Worldfall
by Thuktun Flishithy
Summary: An epistolary work that documents the Race and Fithp Invasions of 2020. Included within are interviews with survivors of the war on all sides, as well as key documents.
1. Chapter 1

**Paulson I**

 _The sun is low on the sky when I finally pull into the Mauna Kea Surveillance Observatory's parking lot. Formerly an independent facility, it is now under the jurisdiction of the federal government, as to scan the skies for potential threats._

Dr. Jennifer Paulson is an older woman, with streaks of grey in her dark brown hair. She is plumper than the old photos, but there remains a lively expression on her face when she greets me at the entrance. After a small exchange, we move inside for the interview.

 **Q: So, let me begin with, well, the beginning. Is it true that you were the first to detect them?**

A: The first? Probably not; many seem to think the Russians actually spotted them first, due to clear weather. But we were definitely the ones to really piece it together.

 **Q: How so? Forgive my ignorance on the subject.**

A: [Chuckles] A lot of people don't know much about it. It's not like the movies, where an alien fleet catches us off-guard. In fact, we saw the first fusion flame when it was still in the Oort Cloud. That's the so-called belt of comets beyond the Kuiper, which extends for nearly two light-years. Of course, they were less than a quarter of that distance when we first detected them.

 **Q: Why so early, if they were so far away?**

A: Well, I think that mainly has to due with the lack of something to obscure the light. In space, there isn't anything to really hide stuff from sight, at least when we think of how foliage and haze. I mean, it's definitely there, but it's on a level far bigger than anything on Earth. Something as bright as a fusion drive? You could see that for billions of miles, especially if you have the right equipment.

 **Q: Why did it take so long for them to be noticed, if that was the case?**

A: A number of things. We weren't _looking_ for aliens, mind you; our focus was deep-space objects. In fact, when one of our interns noticed the flame, we briefly mistook it for a star, until we realized it had just appeared. Then, we thought it was a natural phenomenon, until we realized it was moving pretty quickly in our general direction. We got some specialists in spectroscopy to come up here, and that's when we realized it was actually a spacecraft.

 **Q: It must've been exciting news.**

A: [Laughs] I was like a little girl! We got out the champagne for a bit, after we sent it to other observatories to confirm, which didn't take long. At the time, we were so excited about the prospect of alien life. Not just some microbes under a rock on Mars, but an intelligent species that was coming _here_. There's an old picture around here that shows me posing with the reflector, and I'm actually crying. It was intense, in a good way.

Then, that was when the feds contacted us about the information, asking about how long before the public would find out on their own. I guess they were worried about panic in the streets, especially in other countries. I guess I can't blame them, but they really killed the mood in the facility.

 **Q: What did you tell them?**

A: The truth. That even amateurs with cheap refractors could see the ship. The news would quickly spread, especially on the internet, and there'd be a lot of suspicion about any silence on the matter. Besides, we contacted fifteen other observatories all around the world, and they were confirming it. There'd be no way for them to contain a leak that big, even if they tried.

That's why they decided to reveal our findings the next day, in a Presidential address. I was excited to see my face on national television, even if I was also pretty nervous. The news practically exploded, with everyone abuzz about the discovery. I mean, think about how _huge_ of an impact the revelation would have on the world! The religions, the philosophies, the way we see ourselves in the universe. Suddenly, the galaxy just became a smaller place, all overnight.

 **Q: So, that was the** ** _Flishithy_** **. How long until the Conquest Fleet was detected?**

A: Two weeks, just in time for the initial freak-out to slightly weaken. We were watching the big ship like a hawk, with all the reflectors focused on it. We were getting good calculations on the deceleration when the other, stronger, fusion flames came about, coming in from a different direction. It was the Chinese who spotted that first, and they sent the findings to us for confirmation.

 _Paulson sighs._

That... that was scary. Mind you, we didn't know anything about what the snouts were packing. If we did, there would've been a _real_ panic, not just celebrations and debauchery. At the time, we thought it was a contact vessel, or maybe a scientific expedition. After all, it was only one ship, and the size made sense for a ramjet. I mean, we _thought_ about invasion, but it was at the back of our heads. We dismissed it as a silly thought, fit for a dumb blockbuster.

When I saw those two hundred and fifty six fusion flames, however...

That couldn't be for exploration. Why send that many ships, each of them bigger than an aircraft carrier, if you just wanted to talk? And we knew they had to be a different species, too; the flames were stronger, with different fuel, and they came from the direction of Tau Ceti, not Alpha Centauri. It's why we spotted them three light-years out, instead of two hundred AU.

 _Paulson takes a sip from her water bottle, then glanced out the window._

That was scary. The atmosphere here changed in a heartbeat; one of my interns actually swan-dived off a ledge after a night of hard drinking. Cant blame him. If an alien species could cross the void like that, and they wanted us dead... it'd be like a war between ants and boots. We were almost glad when the feds took over. It felt like I could breathe, even if it'd only be until they arrived.

 **Q: And how long would that be?**

A: Six years, and we were lucky. I was twenty-nine when we made the discovery, and I looked fifty when everything went to hell.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess I**

 _The Race Free Zone is eerily reminiscent of the old Japanese internment camps from the 1940's, even if the similarities are superficial. The area, located on several hundred acres of previously unused land near the Great Salt Lake, is surrounded by fences capped with barbed wire, and there are armed guards at the gates. It is mainly for the safety of the inhabitants within, however; there have been a number of hate crimes in the years._

Wallafess is middle-aged by Rabotev standards. His scales have yet to grown worn and cracked, and he is still rather lively when he greets me at his little shack. Behind him, badly rusted in the rain, is the remains of the

43rd Emperor Unffor.

 **Q: Thank you for inviting me here. I understand that a lot of other troopmales are tightlipped about their experiences.**

A: With good reason, if you ask me. Each of us here knew someone that died in the fighting, and it's never fun to reopen those old wounds. But, if it will get our side of the story out, then I'll let myself bleed.

 **Q: Admirable conviction. Could you give us some information on your arrival in the solar system?**

A: I think you need to first understand what it was like _before_ we actually arrived in the Tosev, er, Solar System. I might be Rabotev, but I was born on Home. I grew up there, even if I spent a few years on Rabotev. The difference between Home and this planet is... well, it's unbelievable.

 **Q: Could you elaborate?**

A: First thing: the quiet. The civility. Home has no serious crime. Your Pyramids were brand new when we had our last murder. Most of us didn't even have locks on our doors, because we didn't have to worry about crime. I think the nation of Nippon comes closest to that, but there's still some wrinkles there. We didn't have drug trades, or mass murderers, or even corruption. I know your world has valid criticisms of mine, but peace will never be one of them.

 _Wallafess lets out a low hiss; his version of a sigh. He pours himself a glass of 'brandy', and takes a sip._

So, that has a big impact on your childhood. I never grew up afraid that others would hurt me. None of us did. We had nice, quiet, boring lives, with no cares in the world. I studied hard in my classes, but that was the only stress I really had. I was like a content azwaca in the field.

 **Q: Would you say that the troopmales who signed up during the Soldier's Time were interested in adventure?**

A: More or less. Yes. Definitely; all of us _chose_ to sign up. We had a once in a millennia opportunity to see a world never before visited by our kind, and encounter strange new things. We were embarking on one of our people's three biggest expeditions _ever_ , and we were going to expand the Empire for the Emperor. So, we signed up, because we figured that would be better than becoming scholars or working at food-packing factories.

 **Q: I have to admit, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect.**

A: How so?

 **Q: You grew up in such a peaceful environment, yet you were willing to go to war against an entire _planet_?**

A: To be honest, I never expected I'd actually have to _kill_ a To- er, human. None of my friends expected it either. We thought we'd just come in, show off our fancy guns, and have the planet under control in a month. I mean, I knew that the previous conquests had deaths in the thousands, but everyone thinks that they're not going to be it, that they're not going to be the ones who slaughter them. Or get slaughtered. We knew that a few dozen of us were probably going to die, but we brushed it off. We all thought 'won't be me'.

 **Q: I'd imagine that led to some fear among the ranks when you were woken up early.**

A: I wasn't supposed to be up until we were in orbit. You should've seen how confused I was when I looked out the porthole and only saw empty space. I think we were a few days from the orbit of the fifth planet. Venus?

 **Q: Jupiter.**

A: Truth. Beautiful world, I have to say. Home has no gas giants, and Rabotev has one that looks like a red ball. No swirling clouds, unless you're a Race male; their eyes can see some colors that I can't. But that's beside our point, isn't it?

I felt a twitch of fear in my liver when the Shiplord had us convene in one of the meeting rooms and told us officers that, not only was Tosev Three far more advanced than predicted, but that it was trying to _talk_ with us.

 _Wallafess takes another sip of his brandy. His hands have a slight shake to them, which he quells when he realizes that I've noticed._

I'm trying to think of an analogy for you, to understand our panic. Imagine... imagine if you decided to go to Africa, right now, for a safari trip. Maybe you'll see the chimps, since they look pretty clever, and you might wryly think that they could become like you in a million years. But during those few hours it takes you to fly to Africa and go on safari, the chimps advance, faster than anything you've ever. When you land, they actually drive up to greet you in their own cars, and they reveal that they've figured out teleportation or some other bizarre concept. Wouldn't you be terrified by that progress?

 **Q: Perhaps.**

A: We were! You accomplished in eight hundred of your years, what should've taken you eighty thousand. My great-great-great grandparents, whoever they were, used the same kind of phone that I did. It should've been _impossible_ for you to reach such a state of development. And when something impossible happens, you ask yourself all sorts of questions. Are the Tosevites going to obliterate us on a whim? Are they going to capture us and pull our guts apart? Are they going to follow our trail back to Home and scorch it to ash?

We calmed down after a while, and started telling ourselves rationalizations. Maybe the Tosevites found a crashed probe of ours, or maybe another species dropped by and gave you tech for the hell of it. Anything, to make ourselves feel better.

Then we found out about the other ship. A mile long monster, armed to the teeth, orbiting around that planet of yours with the big rings. A warship, that was neither Race nor Tosevite, that was moving awfully slow for something with a fusion drive. And it was a lot harder to make rationalizations for that one.

 _Wallafess finishes the rest of his brandy in one gulp._

If I knew what was waiting for us, I would've stayed on Home and packed meats.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Petrikov I**

 _Ret. General Petrikov's home in Odessa has a lovely view of the Black Sea from the second-floor patio; it is there that he sits down with me to hold the interview. Between us is an old samovar that his grandfather had purchased nearly a hundred years ago, and he pours some tea as we talk._

 **Q: Thank you for the tea, General.**

A: It's been too long since I've shared a cup with someone. I don't get many visitors these days, except for terse business matters.

 **Q: I'm sure you had a lot of that back before the war.**

A: [Chuckles] Yes, yes, that's true. The first few months after the discovery were all too hectic. The President had us scrambling to create a working plan of defense, if only to ease the fears of the public. I had to speak with scientists, engineers, civil construction, writers...

 **Q: Writers?**

A: That was originally the Americans' idea, though we quickly did it ourselves. After all, where else to get ideas as to protect ourselves from alien invasion, than from the men and women who constantly dreamed of it for a living?

 **Q: Of course, most science fiction writers play hard and fast with the 'science' part, wouldn't you think?**

A: True. We were able to quickly, eh, cut the wheat from the chaff, as you would say. The writers we organized into the think tanks already had backgrounds in sociology, engineering, physics; they actually knew what they were talking about.

 **Q: Were they of any use?**

A: I'd say that they were very useful, though my peers would likely disagree. The Americans were sharing with us ideas from their writers as well.

 **Q: Weren't relations tense at the time? Why would the United States freely give your country information?**

A: Some more optimistic people would like to call it a sign of altruism, of overcoming national squabbles for the greater good. Others would point out that it was in the Americans' best interest that other nations would be able to defend themselves. After all, if the invaders could secure a beachhead in our country, or in another, then the United States would be at a greater risk.

 _The general sips his tea._

That was a conclusion our think tanks pointed out fairly swiftly.

 **Q: What other conclusions did they reach?**

A: That we were likely going to lose, and quite badly at that.

 **Q: Why did they believe that?**

A: You have to remember what it was like back then, before we knew anything about the _yascherits_ or _slony_. They were a problem completely - _completely-_ outside of the context that we normally acted in. We knew little to nothing of their motivations, or their capabilities. For all we knew, they could've vaporized our atmosphere with a simple flick of a switch, or infiltrate our society so subtly that we'd have no clue until it was too late. Our war games and plans covered a spectrum of technological possibilities and levels, from godlike to primitive, from bioweapons to kinetic bombardment. Almost all of them spelled certain defeat.

 **Q: Even assuming that they weren't much more advanced than us?**

A: Ah, that is an important point to discuss, considering how it actually influenced the war. We actually created scenarios in which the _yascherits_ had technology similar to what they actually ended up having. Of course, we made generalizations; we were fairly off in a number of regards.

That's a distraction from the subject, however. When we ran those war games, we still came to the conclusion that it would be a logistical nightmare, enough to make victory unlikely.

 **Q: Logistics are often called the backbone of any military campaign. How did they differ from the norm in this case?**

A: I'll give you an example, though I'm sure some will be uncomfortable: suppose we were to attempt to invade the United States. Our weapons are roughly equal in performance, and our numbers are even greater than the Americans. Why was it never seriously considered, then?

Well, how would you get the army there? Regardless of what direction you chose, you would need to traverse thousands of miles by land or sea to even reach the American mainland. Imagine the difficulties in getting a large enough army to challenge the Americans _to_ America! You'd need to create a safe supply and transportation train for fifteen million men or more, as well as their tanks and other equipment. If that train broke at any point, then your campaign would break as well.

And when you finally arrived, the Americans would have their armed forces amassed to greet you. Such a struggle would bring about too many casualties to occupy such a vast country, even if you could succeed.

 **Q: But the Race didn't face those problems.**

A: Exactly! With those two hundred and fifty six starships, each one bigger than an aircraft carrier, they had the greatest logistics by an absurd degree. How could you defend against such an invasion? They could arrive anywhere, simply bypassing your defenses. What's an ocean or mountain range to a ship that can travel light-years? How can your artillery hit something in orbit? Once the war begun, they could land starships anywhere they wanted, and deploy their forces before we had time to respond. They _did_ do such a thing. It's why they made initial great strides where they landed.

 **Q: And you had to prepare a defense against that?**

A: Da. We had almost nothing to work with. We figured that the most likely landing zones would be as close to the equator as possible, due to the fact that it takes much more energy to land at higher latitudes, but that was still making many assumptions, including the idea that they simply wouldn't scour us from orbit. All we could do was prepare locations for evacuations, build up our forces, and work on weapons that could be effective against ships in orbit. The Americans did a little extra, making equipment that would be hard to detect from orbit, but we decided that was too much work for too little gain.

 **Q: That sounds like nightmarish work, General.**

A: It was. I knew, that even _if_ they didn't simply kill us all from orbit, even _if_ they weren't much more advanced than us... the fight would not be easy.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Harpanet I**

 _Despite being middle-aged by his people's standards, Harpanet is a rather lively fi'; he decides to give his interview while going on a stroll around the White House. We are flanked by Secret Service agents, one of whom is also a fi'._

 **Q: Thank you for taking some time out of your schedule to talk with me, Harpanet.**

A: There is no need to give thanks. The pasts of our herds is important to understand, lest we make the same mistakes in the future.

 **Q: True enough. Let's start with some basics.**

A: Lead me.

 **Q: When did your old herd become aware of the situation on Earth?**

A: We knew next to nothing of your herd. We left Hearth many octuples of years ago, before your radio signals became strong enough to examine. All we knew was that there was intelligence on your world, and that Winterhome was suitable for life.

 **Q: No information about us were left in the _thuktunthp_?**

A: No. It seems that even the ones who came before us did not examine your world enough to learn of you. We had to learn everything of your herd as we entered the solar system, and inserted ourselves into orbit around the sixth planet. We listened intently to your radio broadcasts during that time, deciphering your languages with difficulty.

 **Q: Did you find anything surprising?**

A: Almost all was surprising. Many things confused us. Much of the data you produced simply involved stylized mating rituals, the prom- no, the porn. We hypothesized for some time that your species needed to teach your young how to mate.

 **Q: So your species does not romanticize mating?**

A: We have mating sculptures, during the season, but we do not think much of them when we are out of heat.

There was more than just that. Many aspects of Winterhome culture were alien to us, at least initially. The sheer volume of it was part of our surprise. Some of our Breakers grew fond of your entertainment, once they began to learn the language.

Of course, they also became worried.

 **Q: How so?**

We were confused by the political state of your world. How herds did not try to absorb smaller ones, save for certain occasions. How the conquered rarely became loyal to the conquerers. Slowly, we came to realize that your herd was unlike ours, and that the conquest may prove more difficult that originally anticipated.

I was aware of little of this while serving aboard Message Bearer. I was a simple soldier in an octuple. While we were in the ringed system, I did a great deal of manual labor, helping Message Bearer resupply. The officers impressed upon us the need for urgency, especially after we destroyed a small probe made by your kind.

 **Q: That was Cassini.**

So I have been told. A scientific instrument, yet it was like a fire lit beneath our snouts, pushing us into action. We were to have spent twelve of your years in the system, but instead we spent four. We collected ice for hydration and fuel, and whatever metal we could scrounge from small moonlets, in order to make weapons. We worked tirelessly, to the point that some of our number suffered nervous breakdowns.

I myself did not suffer as such, but it was unpleasant. I didn't even have the time to fully enjoy the beauty of the system, with the way the distant sun caught on the rings.

 **Q: Did you agree with the faction that wanted to colonize space, instead of Earth?**

A: I did not want to focus on politics. Yet, in retrospect, I feel that was a mistake.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wáng I**

 _The Beijing Psychiatric Hospital is a state-of-the art facility, meant to put patients at comfort during their stays here. Wáng Yè Wèn certainly looks comfortable as I enter his room. The surroundings are surprisingly furnished with calligraphy and paintings of cities that he's made. Numerous medical textbooks and sociology papers are neatly put away in a bookcase, which has a number of family photos on top._

Yè Wèn is sitting up calmly in bed. His hair is clipped short, with streaks of grey running through it, but there is an unexpected vividness in his eyes. They look like the eyes of a jolly old man, wrinkled by smiles and laughter. It is a startling juxtaposition with the hideous burn running up one side of his neck, as well as to the straightjacket binding his arms for the duration of our meeting.

 **Q: Good afternoon, Wáng Xiānshēng.**

A: Good afternoon. Your tones could use some work, but the effort is appreciated. Most foreigners I've spoken with were not willing to try. Of course, I digress. I take it you are here to ask me about the war?

 **Q: Yes and no. I was hoping to get a little insight into what was going on before the war, first.**

A: Ah. I suppose all the big stories begin with something small, do they not? The best ones, of course.

 **Q: You could interpret it that way if you like.**

A: Then I shall do so; it makes it much better to tell my story. What exactly do you want to know?

 **Q: It'd be best to start with what the public was feeling in the initial months of the discovery.**

A: That was a late 2014. Chilly weather, especially where I was. You see, I was born in Chóngqìng, but I went to the capital to study medicine. I was planning on becoming a surgeon, though I'd always held a fascination with sociology. Of course, there was no money in sociology, and so my parents made sure that I didn't take any classes as a distraction while I was abroad.

You seem... impatient. I suppose I'm, how you'd say? Dawdling. Lost in nostalgia. I missed home dearly, and I miss it now. Yet, I was making friends in school, and classes were going well. That was when the news arrived.

 **Q: How did people take it?**

A: People? I feel that is... too broad. Very generalizing. Each one is like a world unto themselves. I suppose the most apt analogy would be... yes, a _mosaic_. Each tile is a different color, or has different colors in different ratios, but when put together, they can form a picture.

That picture was cautious, and more than a little fearful, but ultimately hopeful. There were those who'd been waiting their whole lives to see alien life, hoping to find peace in the stars. Even those were not readers of science fiction, or focused too much on the more mundane matters of the world, were suddenly finding their eyes drawn upwards.

The internet was full of speculation. The part of me that was fascinated with sociology found itself at the forefront of my mind. After all, what could be as interesting a sociological topic as an alien mind? I knew my way around the censorship placed by my government, and I was constantly on message boards, discussing the news. We were constantly asking each other so many questions. Why were they here? What kind of technology did they have? What did they look like? Did they have religion? Did they feel the same emotions as us?

Television was much the same. There were politicians advocating a military build-up, politicians advocating the creation of a international message of peace to send to our visitors, and everything in between. Ultimately, however, even in my country people were hopeful. Why would a species capable of crossing an ocean of stars want to conquer a world? What could they possibly hope to gain?

I was personally excited, you see. If they landed, wherever they were, I wanted to be there, to ask them the questions that burned in my chest like hot coals.

 **Q: What changed that?**

A: The Conquest Fleet.

 _For a moment, his face contorts with pain and grief, only to be replaced by a chilly anger. His voice drags along the back of my neck like a knife made of ice._

For a mission of peace, one would expect a single ship, or perhaps a small handful. Even interstellar expeditions would not require an absurd amount of material or manpower, especially if their work was more of a matter of communication than anything really physical.

There was no denying that hundreds of ships would not have peaceful intent.

That was when the panic began. It was not as bad in my country as it was in many third world nations, but it was not pleasant. There were stampedes in food stores as people tried to purchase supplies, and looting when some less civilized people felt there was no need to hold on to the law. There were even bombings in the west, where things are already contentious. Tibet, especially, was becoming more blood-soaked than usual.

I saw little of the panic first hand. The government put guards around the universities, and we were barred from leaving. We were not as frightened as the others; we knew that it would be six years before the real trouble began. Still, there was a sense of... unease. For all we knew, the war would be little more than pest control on their part, and that we only had six more years to enjoy life before its swift end.

And yet, and yet... I had been hopeful about the first ship. It was clearly not from the same star system, and some remained calm enough to appreciate the magnitude of two entire alien civilizations making contact with us at the same time. Some even thought that the first ship would be peaceful, and help us agains the coming fleet. I certainly did.

Then came Cassini. The probe, I believe, was in the middle of its second mission extension. By a stroke of what must have been divine providence, it was on a route that allow a flyby of the first alien ship, and the world waited with bated breath as the first pictures came.

 **Q: It only managed to take a few before it was destroyed, I believe.**

A: And yet, what an impact those handful of photos had. Imagine the terror billions felt when we saw a mile-long monstrosity of a spacecraft, armored like a battleship and covered in what could only be weapons. It looked like something that could crush nations, and to know that it would be coming our way...

 _He breathes deeply through his nose._

The draft opened up shortly after that. Against the suggestion of my parents, I signed up. And the rest... well, I'm sure many know the rest.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess II**

 _After a while, Wallafess decides to go on a walk around the Race Free Zone as we continue the interview. A few of the troopmales give us a nod as we pass by some of the prefab structures that have been their homes for the last twenty years. Much like their culture, the troopmales are neat and orderly; the streets are clean, there is little graffiti on the walls, and we get no trouble as we near Salt Lake._

 **Q: How long where you awake aboard the _Yower_ , before you actually made landfall?**

A: A good year. My year, not yours. Most of that was spent in orbit around Jupiter; the actual flight to To- _Earth_ was very short.

 **Q: What did you do during that time?**

A: Practically nothing. I was an infantry troopmale, so I wouldn't have anything to do until we landed. There's a phrase amongst your people, that being a soldier is ninety-nine percent killing time, and one percent _killing time_. Well, that was pretty true for us as well. I just made sure rations were alright, and that my gun was clean. Rastin, a friend of mine who was Hallessi, brought along a small telescope as part of his personal effects. Sometimes, my friends and I would spend some time near a viewing port, looking at Jupiter and the moons with the thing.

All in all, it wasn't too bad. I certainly enjoyed the view we had while we waited; it helped distract me from the sense of unease that we all had.

 **Q: Could you describe this unease?**

A: It shall be done.

 _Wallafess straightens a little, as though lost in thought._

The shiplords restricted information about Tosev, hoping that it'd keep us from entering a full-blown panic. They didn't get the glut of radio information that the fisssss- the fisp. Ah, hell. The elephants. The elephants were hit by all the information your planet was producing freely, which I am told actually exceeded the output of the entire Empire.

We didn't get that. It was pretty much four years after we were first spotted, and by then your planet had gone dark for the most part. All the information the Fleetlord and shiplords got was from the contact packages you sent our way, and us troopmales didn't get to see any of it. 'A matter of security', the officers kept on telling us. 'No concern to your operations'.

 **Q: What was your opinion of that?**

A: Nervous. Very, very nervous. All that we knew was that your people had advanced far more quickly than expected, and was actually talking to us. I didn't know anything else. I had no idea what your society looked like, or how it acted, or what weapons you guys were packing.

That ended up being all my friends and I talked about. Tosevites this, Tosevites that. Rumors started flying. 'The Tosevites have more advanced technology than us; that can be the only reason why we haven't been told anything.' 'Another species has conquered Tosev Three, and is denying us the right to colonize.' 'The Tosevites are going to send a ship to greet us'.

I didn't buy any of it, but I still had a few sleepless nights, thinking about what _actually_ was happening.

One night, I found myself wondering if your kind was worrying the same thing. And then I just started laughing.

 **Q: Laughing?**

A: It just felt so _absurd_. Getting skittish over nothing. I started telling myself that we were just overreacting to the whole thing, as we often do. Just because you guys had radio, didn't mean you were going to vaporize us all and take over Home. Some of us even started hoping that we'd be welcomed with open arms, since you'd be so much more civilized than we'd anticipated. It'd certainly have made colonization easier.

The whole thing with the other spacecraft was harder to joke about. We had no idea why it was there, and we didn't know where it was from. Some of us thought it was Tosevite, some thought it was something else. With my friend's telescope, I could even see the thing's fusion flame.

I didn't know why something with an engine like that was moving so slowly, and neither did the higher-ups. If we did, we would've turned back immediately, and warned the Colonization Fleet.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager I**

 _Ret. General Yeager greets me at his home in Upstate New York, and sits down with me at the porch. His wife, Barbara, offers me a glass of sweet tea as she comes out and sits beside her husband._

 **Q: Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview, sir. I know this is far from your first.**

A: Eh, what's one more? As long as it keeps future generations from forgetting the important things, I'm down for it.

 **Q: Alright then. Let's start with War Plan Teal. That was originally your idea, wasn't it?**

A: Ideas aren't formed in a vacuum, kid. I made it with help from a few others, including some science fiction authors we invited over as part of a think tank. We spent the first three months after the Conquest Fleet's discovery working on the plan, refining it, seeing what could and couldn't work. We had to consider the capabilities of the invaders, their mentality, and what we could do to defend ourselves. Considering the amount of unknown variables, it wasn't easy.

 **Q: Could you go into detail?**

A: Of course. First thing first, we had to throw out half the pre-existing defense plans for the US. Most of those involved invasions from other countries, or alliances of nations. Russia and China were the main ones, but we also have plans for invasions by a suddenly-hostile NATO, Mexico, and even Canada. I've had to read hundred-page documents on how we'd respond to an invasion by Russia with a new superweapon, or orbital platforms. Hell, I know how we'd handle a war with Iceland.

Thing is, those are pretty well-known variables. We know what weapons Ivan's packing, and a good idea as to how he'd use it. We know the logistical capabilities of China, and the manpower they can field. Catch my drift?

The document for alien invasion was six pages long, and started with 'Find God'.

 **Q: Did we think we were that seriously outmatched?**

A: Well, the paper operated on the assumption that the aliens would have weapons that matched their other technological capabilities. After all, if a civilization can travel between stars within reasonable timespans, then they had a lot of material resources, and a lot of energy at their disposal. A single Race starship, when at max speed, has more energy behind it than half our total nuclear stockpile, though they never really thought to use it like that.

The fithp were closer to the initial tech estimation, though thankfully their manpower was lacking. If it was an invading species with the fithp's tech and the Race's numbers, we never would've stood a chance.

 **Q: Did you have that in mind while drafting War Plan Teal?**

A: Not as much as one might think. The plan was more than just a contingency against alien invasion; it was a way to calm down the populace, to give the impression that we had things under control. If we'd gone and said 'There's no way in hell we're gonna win', then there would've been full-blown anarchy. Already there'd been riots and looting all over the country. Death cults committing mass-suicide, people attempting to murder politicians in order to 'appease the alien overlords'... we needed to calm things down, and War Plan Teal was the key to that.

And there was one thing that made us think we stood a chance: the aliens clearly wanted our planet.

 **Q: How could you know that?**

A: If they wanted to just exterminate us, they could've sent an unmanned starship our way at a good chunk of light speed; it would've made Chixiclub look like a bad fart. And there were far better alternatives for resources than an inhabited planet with high gravity. No, it was clear that these guys weren't going to simply glass us. That meant they couldn't use the biggest guns we believed they could be packing, including nuclear weapons. Hard to settle a radioactive mudball, after all.

So, if they wanted our planet, they were going to have to send ground troops, and go lightly on just flattening us, lest they ruin the biosphere.

 **Q: What were the central tenets to the plan?**

A: First, we decided to operate under the assumption that the aliens would use orbital bombardment against us. Not enough to plunge us into nuclear winter, but something that would cripple our infrastructure. That meant we had to deal with the possibility that all of our missile silos, bases, roads, and ships could be hit near-simultaneously, in a surgical strike. One of the authors actually developed such a system a while back, called Thor.

So, how do you protect yourself against orbital bombardment? That was a question we had to answer in War Plan Teal.

 **Q: What did the plan dictate, then?**

A: First, we had to deal with the likelihood that our navy would be neutralized; they'd be sitting ducks out there. We scrapped plans to build the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers, and decommissioned a few of the older ships. We instead focused on producing more submarines. After all, what's a better shield from orbital detection than a mile of water?

Still, we needed ships for transportation and force projection, so we kept those. If the enemy wasn't capable of hitting them, or we hit them hard enough to neutralize their orbital superiority, then we could roll them out at a moment's notice.

It's part of the reason why we recommissioned the Iowa-class battleships. Despite their limited force projection when compared to carriers or destroyers, they were much more heavily armored than any modern ship, and their guns would be able to punch a hole in all but the most durable alien equipment we'd projected.

We also made plans to shut down any and all bridges in the country, should the aliens bombard us. The highway overpasses we considered, but it would've been far too costly, especially considering what other preparations we needed to make.

 **Q: Which were?**

A: First, we needed manpower. The total armed forces were a fraction of their potential max, since there was no need. Now, however, we had to deal with the possibility that we'd need to give everything we got.

We were to pull all forces from overseas within two months. Then, we'd begin conscription within the year. The last -and first- time we were ever in a total war economy was during WWII, and that was for less than four years. We didn't feel like trying to see how far we could stretch that, lest we cause economic collapse.

So, we said we'd ease into it over the course of two years. We'd start conscripting more and more men, we'd start diverting more and more GDP to production of weapons and equipment, and we'd bring back a lot of things from WWII. Victory gardens, war bonds, the like.

Weapons development would speed up like clockwork. MBTs would just be good targets for orbital bombardment, so we said to focus on lighter, faster armor. We planned on pouring billions into camouflage that'd work from orbit, using satellites to test their effectiveness. We hoped the combination would be enough to reduce casualties from ortillery.

For aircraft, we suggested applying ablative coatings, especially over the fuel tanks. Odds were, we figured, the aliens would probably have something similar to the YAL-1 or COIL, and we needed a countermeasure against such a possibility.

Of course, we weren't just focusing on a way to protect from orbital bombardment; we had plans for neutralizing it, too.

 **Q: You mean the railguns?**

A: Yep. The Navy was working on a prototype for a while, now, and we decided that it would be a key defense weapon. Already the prototype could fire rounds at hypersonic speeds, with a range of a hundred miles. Of course, that was only a twenty-three pound projectile; we were looking at something bigger. Instead of a small one for ships, you could make a sedentary one, which meant you could pump in a whole lot more power. Instead of twenty-three pounds, you could fire a twenty-three _hundred_ pound projectile. That's as much energy as a ton of TNT, with a fraction of the cost.

That means you could efficiently, and _effectively_ , use them to shoot at targets in LEO. That's Low-Earth-Orbit, in case you didn't know. The velocity of the projectiles would be reduced at such altitudes, but that would still be bad news for any alien spacecraft in orbit.

The plan called for at least ten of these placed around the country, in strategic locations. We also suggested placing the things in Western Europe, to protect our NATO allies without needing boots on the ground. We dubbed them anti-orbital munitions, but the boys on the ground ended up calling them Ow Guns.

 **Q: What about supplies?**

A: I see you've done your fair share of research. The plan covered that as well. We said we'd need to rewrite trade agreements with other countries, having them consider the possibility that the aliens could completely disrupt trade between countries, and even within the larger nations. Good luck trying to get a food truck from Florida to Minnesota when a tungsten rod could smash into it at any time.

Coupled with the fact that the world only had enough grained stored to feed everyone for two months, we could be looking at widespread famine.

So, we said there needed to be rationing throughout the country. We'd grow crops that could feed people efficiently, instead of growing things like cotton for textiles. Meat production was to be reduced considerably, since farmland is more efficient than a pasture. We also had to conserve fuel for generators, so we encouraged renewable energy sources, especially if the aliens knew to hit our petroleum deposits.

We also decided that, if we had surpluses even after making reserves, then we'd ship those to countries that needed it. After all, many small or arid countries didn't have enough farmland to feed their own people, or enough material to fuel a war economy.

 **Q: Did that include countries the US was not allied with?**

A: Reluctantly, yes. If a place like North Korea or Syria were to fall, we thought, then that meant the aliens had a beach head from which to launch invasions of nearby countries with reduced resistance. After all, it'd be easier to unload troops or armor if there was nothing shooting at them.

Of course, we weren't stupid. We'd give them food, but not weapons. We knew there was a possibility that they'd just use it against us, once the war was over. _If_ we won, anyway.

 **Q: Did the plan account for other countries, then?**

A: Yes. We decided to include a call for a mutual defense pact with Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, operating as part of the beach head policy. If any of them were invaded, we'd send troops to help them fight the aliens off. It was much like a modern day version of the Munroe Doctrine, except on a bigger scale.

Other countries did the same. A few Middle-Eastern nations did it, though they excluded Israel, naturally. The EU did it, and Russia made a similar deal with China. I believe the African Union did the same, even though they knew they probably wouldn't be able to back it up like we could.

 **Q: What were reactions to the plan when it was unveiled?**

A: Mixed. Some called it 'hyper-aggressive' and 'paranoid', saying that we still didn't know if the aliens were coming with hostile intent. They criticized the idea of putting the US in total war economy, since that meant giving up a lot of creature comforts, and even those who agreed on the idea of a defense plan said that it wasn't a good plan, that it was too defeatist.

 **Q: Why was it considered defeatist, or a bad plan altogether?**

A: Well, they felt we were focusing too much on the likelihood of getting our asses kicked. We called for only defending the most important parts of the country. We knew it'd be impractical to defend the whole US; it's too damn big. Why waste lives and equipment fighting for some sparsely populated bit of Kansas, when you could better use it defending the missile silos or major population centers?

We also made many evacuation plans, dealing with what would happen if New York was gone, or if the enemy captured Washington. We also had to contend with the possibility of losing all our satellites and other methods of modern communication. We had plans for using carrier pigeons and honest-to-god telegraphs, since it'd be hard to disrupt that, when compared to satellite or radio towers. Can't use an EMP on a dove, after all.

I must commend the President for selling the plan to the people. I know a lot of people didn't like him at the time, but he was an intelligent man, and he knew that the plan was our best hope.

When other countries praised the plan and started adapting it to their own defense policies, people started quieting down. Of course, we made some changes. People liked the railguns, so we got a higher budget for making them, and we also diverted some money to EMP hardening of civilian hardware. I still disagree with the cyber-warfare countermeasures we made; the odds of aliens hacking into the Pentagon was absurd, even if they were high-tech.

Still, I knew the plan wasn't a solve-all.

 **Q: Care to explain?**

A: Whoever controls the orbitals, controls the war. That much was clear from the get-go. Even with the railguns, the enemy would still have a firm grasp on the ultimate high-ground. And the reports about the ship near Saturn had me _very_ concerned, if what some of the writers and scientists said meant anything. They proved to be true, unfortunately.

Unless we could get control of orbit, I felt, there was no way of winning the war.

But how would you get weapons into orbit? I knew we wouldn't be able to repeal the treaties against putting weapons in orbit, especially nuclear ones. Good luck trying to convince Russia to let us put nukes in orbit.

So, that was when we decided to propose Project: Archangel. We knew it would be the key to victory.

If we stood a chance, that is.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Traore I**

 _Moussa Traoré greets me at the door to his home in Bamako, Mali. Ushering me in, he has me sit down with him and his family at the dining room table. We hold our interview over plates of Jollof rice, boiled eggs, and steaming green mint tea._

 **Q: Thank you for the meal, Professor Traoré.**

A: You are quite welcome. It is always good to share a meal with a guest, especially an amiable one. Care for some more tea?

 **Q: Perhaps later. Let me first ask you about the translation project.**

A: Very well. Where would you want me to start? How I became a member of the project, or simply my work on it?

 **Q: Perhaps the former would be best.**

A: It is more interesting to start there, I feel. As you may know, Mali is a diverse country, with many languages. Bambara is the most common, but there is also Arabic, French, Maasina Fulfulde, and dozens more. What's more, many of the languages are from different families. Bambara is Mande, French is Indo-European, Arabic is Semetic, and Maasina Fulfude is from the Niger-Congo family. This means there are considerable differences in syntax, morphology, and phonology. Monolingualism is a rarity, here. I suppose that was considerable help to me in becoming a linguist.

I was already a translator for the United Nations when I was requested to join a think tank, in order to decipher the language of the coming invaders.

 **Q: Could you describe that in detail?**

A: Yes. The think-tank consisted of twenty-three other translators and linguists, from all over the world. They came from China, from Egypt, from America, and ten other countries. We were assigned to listen to the transmissions coming from the Conquest Fleet, and attempt to decipher their language for two main reasons. First, to see if we could gleam valuable information for the intelligence agencies, and secondly, to attempt diplomacy.

 **Q: I thought it had been agreed at that point that the Race had hostile intent?**

A: Yes, that was the general consensus. However, we decided that if there was any chance, however small, of averting a war, that we would take such a chance.

 _Traoré's eldest son, a translator in his own right, pours me some tea. I watch the foam rise, then take a sip._

 **Q: How difficult was it to translate the language of the Race?**

A: Very. All languages on Earth have connections to each other, forming families and superfamilies. There are all similarities amongst the Romance languages, for example, and there are broader commonalities between the Romance languages and other Indo-European languages. The same can be said for Niger-Congo languages, Sino-Tibetan languages, and every other possible group. If you knew one language, it would be easier to decipher the languages related to it.

However, the language of the Race had no relations to our languages. It evolved in a completely isolated environment, and was spoken by an entirely different species. There were no related languages that would have made translation easier, and no speakers with whom we could attempt simple dialogues. Even something as simple as a Race male pointing to a rock and saying his word for it would've made things easier.

 **Q: And yet, the team managed to translate it.**

A: We were fortunate to have eavesdropped on audio transmissions between the starships. They did almost nothing to conceal their chatter; they didn't even use... what is the term you use again? Narrow-beam?

 **Q: Tight-beam.**

A: Ah, thank you. Yes, we managed to intercept a great deal of their transmissions. Simply knowing that they communicated verbally, and with a somewhat similar vocal structure to us, made things much easier.

We'd already decided that they must've had a word order that includes subjects, verbs, and objects. Not necessarily in that order, of course; only forty percent of languages are SVO.

 **Q: What order is the Race language in, then?**

A: It is an OSV language, similar to many languages found in the Amazon language. That alone took eighteen months to determine. Thankfully, once that was done, the rest of the deciphering became much easier. We swiftly discerned that the Race language was polysynthetic, meaning that there is a high amount of morphemes. This often leads to them having long words that can act as a sentence on their own. For example, the word _ssuvatalsvabeerts_ means "He has not yet returned home".

It's also a very logical language. Not meaning that the speakers are inherently more logical than us, but meaning that there are fewer linguistic ambiguities. One lesson that stuck with me when I entered college was an example the professor said, stating that the English phrase "I never said she stole my money" can have seven different interpretations depending on inflection and context. In contrast, the Race's language would have seven different sentences for each interpretation.

 **Q: How long did it take to decipher the language to the point of intelligibility?**

A: Three years. By the end, six of the linguists and translators had left the program due to a perceived lack of helpfulness, and three others suffered nervous breakdowns from the stress of the work. Nonetheless, it was regarded as a major achievement for linguistics; I still remember posing for the cover of TIME, along with the rest of the think-tank. _Meet the Men and Women Who Deciphered the First Known Alien Language,_ it had said. I still have a copy around the house.

 **Q: What happened after that?**

A: We started making courses for people to learn it, and went around the world, teaching it to intelligence officers. Knowing the language would be an important advantage in case of invasion, and so many people started learning it. A survey claimed that, just one year before the invasion, there were more L2 speakers of the Race's language than there were of Japanese. I would not be surprised if that was indeed the case.

Regardless, I have no doubt that the work our team did was crucial to what happened next.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Audio Transcript - Transmission from UN to 127th Emperor Hetto. November 18th, 2020**

 _Initial transmission is sent to the **Hetto** in lunar orbit at 12:00 PM, Greenwich Time._

 **12:00.02 [UN Special Assembly]:** "This a transmission to the fleet in lunar orbit, sent from the United Nations Special Assembly. Repeat, this is a transmission to the fleet-"

 _Sixteen seconds of static pass, during which there is an unintelligible conversation from the **Hetto**._

 **12:00.23 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "This is Kirel, Shiplord of the _127th Emperor Hetto_. How is that you know the language of the Race?"

 **12:00.40 [UN Special Assembly]:** "We have studied your language for five of our years. We have been listening to radio transmissions broadcasted between the ships in your fleet."

 **12:01:11 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "What is the purpose of this transmission?"

 **12:01:20 [UN Special Assembly]:** "We desire a dialog with the one in charge of your fleet."

 _Another minute of static passes with an unintelligible conversation from the **Hetto**._

 **12:02:32 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "This is Atvar, Fleetlord of the Conquest Fleet, as decreed by the 42nd Emperor Risson. Will you surrender peacefully to the Race?"

 _The Special Assembly waits one minute before a reply, during which there is a short but furious discussion amongst the Security Council as to how the reply shall be worded._

 **12:04:10 [UN Special Assembly]:** "The 197 sovereign nations of Earth have unanimously rejected the offer of surrender, as sent by the Fleetlord."

 **12:04:43 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "You Tosevites have clearly shown yourselves to be relatively civilized and intelligent. It would be unwise to reject our offer of a peaceful surrender and suffer a conquest that will result in great loss of life and widespread destruction for your world."

 **12:05:02 [UN Special Assembly]:** "The Special Assembly refuses be intimidated by threats of violence. The success of your conquest is far from guaranteed."

 **12:05:48 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "It is evident that you Tosevites know little of us. We have conquered two planets before this conquest. By our estimates, the most recent conquest was approximately nine thousand of your years ago. Your species was still only experimenting with primitive agriculture while we were traversing the stars and bringing entire planets into the fold for the Emperor."

 **12:06:12 [UN Special Assembly]:** "And now our world is capable of spaceflight itself. We are aware of the subjugation of the Rabotevs and Hallessi, but we are also aware that they were apparently at far lower technological levels to our own civilization. We are undoubtedly the most advanced species you have encountered."

 **12:06.56 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "Your technological development would only make colonization easier; it would fail to keep your world from being absorbed into the Empire."

 **12:07:21 [UN Special Assembly]:** "The Special Assembly disagrees strongly with your statement. We do not desire war with the Race, and would rather engage in a peaceful exchange of knowledge, culture, and technology. It is the opinion of the Assembly that such an exchange would mutually benefit our worlds. We are currently transmitting the document that details what we would be willing to exchange with the Empire of the Race."

 _Twelve minutes of static pass._

 **12:17:45 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "You Tosevites have the audacity to demand access to our coldsleep technology and spaceflight technology? And for what? Material sciences? Mere documents on biological sciences and physics? And what is this... nanotechnology? What matter of trickery is this?"

 **12:18:04 [UN Special Assembly]:** "We are attempting no trickery upon the Empire of the Race. We simply desire a peaceful coexistence, and perhaps a military alliance."

 **12:18:43 [127th Emperor Hetto]: "** For whatever reason would the Race ally with you Tosevites?"

 **12:19:01 [UN Special Assembly]:** "The other spacecraft in the solar system is not of our construction, and is evidently not our yours. One of our probes in the system was able to discover that the ship is heavily armed, and is likely to attempt a conquest of our planet, much as you so desire. Such an attack, while we are embroiled in war, could spell disaster for both of our worlds."

 **12:19:58 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "Once again, you are attempting to deceive us by suggesting that we divert our forces to combat a phantom enemy. That spacecraft will have no impact on our conquest, and its creators will fall into the fold as well."

 _Twenty seconds of static pass._

 **12:20:18 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "Your use of terms imply that your world is not unified under a single government. Which not-empires possess the greatest power on this planet?"

 **12:21:00 [UN Special Assembly]:** "That topic has no clout on our current dialog."

 **12:21:09 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "I disagree. You speak of alliances, and now I shall as well. To the strongest not-empires on Tosev Three, I extend the offer of an alliance: We shall use the full might of the Conquest Fleet to assist you in subduing the rest of the planet. In exchange, our not-empires will be the ruling authorities on Tosev Three, answering only to the Race."

 **12:21:57 [UN Special Assembly]:** "The Special Assembly unanimously rejects your offer of an alliance with any member nation. It is no doubt that you would reject such an offer if the roles were reversed."

 **12:22:14 [127th Emperor Hetto]:** "The roles are not reversed for a reason. We are the Race! We are the true culture of the universe. and you shall be brought under the rule of the Emperor, as was decreed nearly nine hundred of your years ago. If you do not surrender now, your world shall be brought to heel by force."

 **12:23:12 [UN Special Assembly]:** "As all attempts of diplomacy have failed, all 197 members of the United Nations unanimously declare war upon the Empire of the Race. The offer of your surrender will remain open for the time being."

 _End transmission._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Harpanet II**

 _Our walk around the White House grounds bring us to a secluded mud-pit, one that has been used by Harpanet and his family for a good seventeen years. He slinks inside and wallows around a bit, explaining that it helps to ease his arthritis. I decide to join him, feeling that it'll make the interview easier._

 **Q: You've already mentioned that you were aware of the Race Conquest Fleet. How did their presence change your plans?**

A: The other traveler herd was deemed a secondary target by the Herdmaster. After all, what they could offer us was far less than what Winterhome would gift. Our first and foremost desire was for planet to live on.

 **Q: Were you also able to intercept their radio transmissions and work on translating their language?**

A: Yes, but with great difficulty. We barely had a child's understanding of the language before the war came.

 _Harpanet sucks some mud into his trunk, and sprays it over his back, a contented look on his face._

 **Q: What were the plans regarding them?**

A: We felt they were of little threat to us; we knew that their ships had no weapons, no defenses. Our digit ships would make short work of them, we decided. Winterhome was the main threat, based on what we gathered from our observations.

 **Q: What was the plan regarding Winterhome, then?**

A: From what I heard from the higher-ups, we were to insert ourselves into an orbit that would bring us to Winterhome three of your months after the other herd's arrival. We felt that a conflict between your two herds would result in both being sufficiently weakened by that time, without rendering too much infrastructure unusable.

 **Q: Which is when you'd make your strike.**

A: As we did. The plan was to make landings in fertile regions on the planet once we'd rid the orbitals of the fleet. Such landings would be preceded by strikes on military infrastructure, to slow down your response time.

 **Q: Why fertile regions?**

A: We felt that your herd would be far less willing to contaminate your breadbaskets with fallout than you would a desert or tundra. Successful nuclear strikes were undesirable, naturally. Even if losses were minimal, it would still make the planet less and less desirable. We were already appalled by your willingness to soil your own garden.

 **Q: And yet you were bringing the Foot along?**

 _Harpanet falls silent for a few moments, absentmindedly stirring the mud with his trunk._

A: It seems that one of the universals of culture, no matter what world you hail from, is hypocrisy. It was a lesson we would soon learn in the war to come.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar I**

 _My next interviewee is perhaps the most elusive and difficult one to find an audience with. It took two months of paperwork and background screening before I was allowed an appointment. Surprisingly, however, I am allowed to speak with him in person, rather than the phone call I was expecting._

 _The small state-of-the art building in New York City, just a street over from the UN Headquarters, is the newest embassy in America. I am escorted inside by armed guards, taking care to avoid the protestors and counter-protestors that have been flaring up in the past few weeks. Once I am inside, I am patted down once again, then passed through bomb-detecting equipment, which would've safely detonated any explosives smuggled inside my body._

As an old Hallessi guard explains, they've had to replace the blast-shields once before.

Finally, I am allowed into the office of one of the most controversial figures of the 21st Century. It is a small, comfy room, with solid wooden furniture. It seems that Fleetlord Atvar prefers to surround himself with old things, both human and Race-made.

The Fleetlord himself looks very old, despite being what most Race males would describe as "middle-aged". He wordlessly gestures for me to sit, then pours a glass of Race brandy.

 **Q: Thank you for allowing this interview, Exalted Fleetlord.**

A: I am unsure of how much clout my title holds, anymore. That is unimportant for the time being, however; my silence has been damning enough, and it is time that truth is wholly revealed at this twilight hour. Ask your questions.

 **Q: Very well. Let's start with how you responded to the first signs of Earth's drastic change since the last probe.**

A: That was many years ago, but I remember it distinctly. It was Kirel who woke me from coldsleep as we passed the orbit of Tosev Eight, and informed me that Earth had sent a tight-beam contact package to us. You have probably never experienced coldsleep, but know that when you wake from it, your mind is clouded. It may take a few minutes to even remember your name, or where you are.

So, when Kirel told me the news, I initially assumed that he was making a bad joke. I even laughed at him, then asked for the real status report. It wasn't until he showed me the data that my liver turned cold with dreadful realization.

 **Q: What was your response to the contact package?**

A: I called an emergency meeting of the shiplords, and as one we reviewed the information over and over again. I had Ttolmass examine it, and see what psychological information he could extrapolate. Very little, unfortunately. Some of us theorized that you had become the client species of some unseen empire, but the lack of anything other than your species seemed to disprove that hypothesis.

At the same time, we reviewed the contact package to see what military strength we could surmise. You were wise to not show anything militarized, or the locations of key industrial areas when showing off your technology. The more hopeful claimed that your world had no weapons, but the warlike visages we saw in our probes was enough evidence for me that you would be armed. Our guesswork ran from simple gunpowder weapons to technology that could rival our own before the Emperor unified Home.

Then more contact packages arrived, and we realized how advanced you'd become in the past 1600 of our years.

 **Q: What did you do then?**

A: We first decided to withhold the information from the troopmales, out of fear of what such a revelation would do to morale. Then, we began to debate what to do regarding you. Kirel advocated that we spend five years studying Earth before making any moves, whether it be a retreat or a continuation of the conquest. Straha suggested that we simply break out the atomics and turn your civilization into radioactive rubble. He was the loudest of us during this time, constantly speaking of how we couldn't simply leave the Tosevites alone.

 **Q: And what was your ultimate decision?**

A: I was at a most unpleasant crossroads. Do we simply retreat, and be disgraced by the Emperor for our cowardly failure, or do we proceed on what could result in our destruction, and thereby risk the lives of the Colonization Fleet? Of course, I was still a haughty Fleetlord of the Race; more than anyone it had been drilled into me the superiority of the Race, and the reputation that I carried onto my shoulders into the blackness of interstellar space. Defeat was not simply undesirable, it was unthinkable.

When we arrived in orbit around your moon and received radio communications in our tongue, I knew that even a successful conquest would be drenched in blood. Immediately demanding your surrender was a last-ditch attempt on my part, to subvert the bloodshed and peacefully win your world.

I was more fearful than I cared to admit when your United Nations unanimously declared war. There was something about the way it had been said, you see.

 **Q: How so?**

A: As far as we were concerned, the Race was the only real culture in the universe. Our laws were the true laws, our form of government the _only_ way. Everyone else were simply collections of savages barely scraping by, not worthy of legal attention. We did not officially declare war on the Rabotevs, or hold a ceremonial surrender when the last of the Hallessi were brought under heel. We simply came and conquered them, refusing to acknowledge what laws or polities they had.

However, the way your world declared war on us, with the ceremony and formality of it... this was not a group of savages we would simply roll over. This was an equal to our own, letting us know of the war that would come.

And so, the war came.

 **Q: Would you care to elaborate a little on the invasion plan?**

A: I knew that numbers would be key in winning over important areas. Even if the Tosevites were of comparable technology to us, we'd hoped that our numbers would win the planet. After all, forty-five million troop males is nothing to jest at. From our population projections, we knew that such an army would be bigger than any one Tosevite army.

We also hoped that your more advanced technology could be used against you. The detonation of six explosive metal bombs in the upper atmosphere at key parts of the planet should've been enough to render much of your technology useless, we felt, and so we prepared our killercraft to deliver it.

Our landing sites I chose two months in advance. We would land near Mumbai'i, São Paulo, Beijing, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg, Mogadishu, Islamabad, Ulaan Batar, Tehran, El Paso, St. Louis, Monterrey, and Zanzibar. Five ships per landing site, which would allow us to deposit seventy starships. All in all, we were to land twelve million troopmales on the opening day, hoping that our overwhelming superiority would win us the day. We would then land ten more starships in the Southern Hemisphere as we saw fit over the next few months. Once your abysmal northern winters landed, we would then land our remaining forces in key locations there.

Let me think... during the summer we were to land near Kiev, Oslo, London, York, Paris, Versailles, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Madrid, Barcelona, Pisa, Phoenix, Houston, Washington DC, Seattle, and Tokyo. This time, we would land ten ships per site, unloading thirty million more troops.

We estimated that we would be able to conquer the planet within the year, if the Emperor was on our side. Which, we naturally believed, he was.

And so, the invasion began just three days before that Americanish holiday of yours. The one with the turkeys.

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter One: Prelude to War_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wáng II**

 _Orderlies come in to give Wáng his lunch. There are no utensils involved; they give him a protein shake and vegetable smoothie, holding it up to his mouth to drink. His hands are never unbound during the whole process. As I am later told, he once managed to hide a broken sliver of chopstick in his mouth, then used it to pick the locks._

 _Once his meal is finished, we continue with the interview._

 **Q: You mentioned that you joined the military shortly after Cassini's final photographs were made public. Would you care to go into detail about that time?  
**  
A: Of course! Truth be told, the six years before the invasion were not too troublesome. I was made a medic due to my previous background, a role I was more than happy to fill. Aside from the training, which was more than a little grueling for a slim schoolboy such as myself, we mainly focused our time into support work. Preparing shelters, instructing rural citizens on possible ways to defend themselves should they fall under alien occupation, and so on. Thankfully, I was not sent into the quagmire that was Tibet, though I am sad to say I lost more than a few friends there.

 **Q: Where were you on November 21st, 2020?  
**  
A: Mobile. Once the observatories detected the entry burns of the starships, we were shuffled away from our bases in case they were made targets. I found myself leaving the base near Fúzhõu in the dead of night, as jittery as some of the addicts I'd seen in the streets.

It was very soon after that when the nuclear devices were initiated in the upper atmosphere. One of them was directly over Chéngdū, not four hundred kilometers from my home. Even though I knew it was an attempt to disable our electronics more than anything else, I still felt a great deal of fear in that moment. I still remember the distant flash of light in the sky, briefly giving the illusion of sunrise, followed by the strange aurora effect that followed.

A few of the shoddier electronics in the city failed, but for the most part everything held, thankfully. Our ears were practically attached to the radios as we attempted to make sense of the influx of communications. There were many false alarms during that time. _Race has landed in the heart of Tiān'ānmén! Race troops are on the move in Chóngqìng!_ Oh, it was a nightmare, trying to make sense of it all. Thankfully, the rumors were swept aside within twenty minutes.

That was when we saw the first of the killercraft.

 **Q: Would you care to elaborate on that?  
**  
 _Wáng's face hardens.  
_  
A: It was a single killercraft that flew over our heads. At first, we thought it was one of ours, until someone pointed out that the shape was all wrong. The squadron of J-13s following after it just a few moments later solidified the realization for us. I would later learn that it was a straggler, who'd been caught off from his poor excuse of a squadron after they'd attempted to secure air superiority in Shànghâi.

After that, we'd received official orders from the higher-ups: "A Race landing force has been repelled from outskirts of Bêijīng, but another is in Shànghâi. All available forces, converge."

 **Q: And that marked the beginning of you.  
**  
A: Indeed. I must admit, when I received that report, I felt a strange mixture and dread. Hope, because we now knew the Race was not invincible, that they could be beaten. Dread, because I knew it would still not be easy, that it would be a painful war that followed.

How right I was.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager II**

 _General Yeager ushers me over to his study, where he pulls up some old maps and files he kept during the war. He pins a map of the United States to the board, with faded lines and dots made in marker.  
_  
 **Q: I'm surprised you still used pen and paper.  
**  
A: We in the US Armed Forces like to pride ourselves on redundancy, and our ability to be prepared for almost any scenario. As soon as the reports of the starships came in, we tried to minimize electronic communications, in case they managed to knock out our power grid.

 **Q: So, what were you doing during the very beginning of the invasion?  
**  
A: Sitting in a room with a bunch of equally tired generals and the President in NORAD, poring over every bit of new information we got. We'd moved in once we officially declared war on the Race, and made sure everything was in working order. We exchanged information with our allies nearby and overseas as well, picking up reports from each others listening posts.

It was us and the Chinese who spotted the reentry burns of their starships first. Once we did, we alerted everyone else, from the French to the Russians to the Nigerians.

 **Q: Was that also when the Race detonated their nuclear payloads in the upper atmosphere?  
**  
A: Initiated.

 **Q: I'm sorry?**

A: Nuclear warheads don't detonate. They _initiate._ But yeah, that was when they initiated their 'explosive metal bombs'. Fried a bunch of the older satellites, along with some of the more outdated power grids here and there, the ones people didn't have the time or money to get to. Thankfully, the most vital parts were protected. It looked like our preparations had paid off.

Still didn't keep us from almost shitting our pants on the spot. As soon as the reports of the initiations in the atmosphere over parts of Africa and Asia came to our attention, we immediately jumped down to DEFCON 2.

 _Yeager holds up his index finger and thumb, nearly pinching them together._

We were _this_ close to a retaliatory strike. The President had the nuclear football ready, and the boys in our missile silos and subs were all on high alert.

 **Q: What ultimately prevented a retaliatory strike?  
**  
A: When the Russians reported that they'd taken down some Race killercraft with SAMs and noticed radioactive debris. That was when we realized it was their flimsy aircraft that were delivering the payloads, and not some mass missle strike. Much easier to defend against.

So, we scrambled our jets and primed our Ow guns, and got ready to tear them a new asshole.

 **Q: How effective was that?  
**  
 _Yeager grins.  
_  
A: We didn't get a single initiation over American soil. On the other hand, they lost nearly seventy killercraft, along with two of their precious starships. Not gonna lie, there was plenty of cheering when we saw the flaming wrecks tumbling through the stratosphere and into the Atlantic. Same went for the Chinese at Beijing, though they didn't stop the landings at Shanghai. There was a bit of a celebratory mood, even if it didn't last. The alien bastards came, and we'd kicked them back into orbit.

 **Q: Wasn't there still worry over the successful landing sites?  
**  
A: Unfortunately, yeah. It took a while to cut the wheat from the chaff, but we were able to figure out where they'd touched ground.

 _Yeager pulls up a world map, pointing at the various dots.  
_  
Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Cairo, Mogadishu, Johannesburg, Tehran, Ulaan Batar, and Zanzibar. We didn't know right away, but they'd shat out eight and a half million troops in less than twenty four hours into these areas. To put in context, Operation Barbarossa was the biggest invasion in human history, and that was less than half of the Race's numbers.

 _Yeager pulls up another map, showing red blotches of varying sizes in each spot.  
_  
By the time the Christmas season began, they'd captured an area the size of Texas. And it was only going to get worse from there.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Oyuunchimeg I**

 _Tsaikah Oyuunchimeg has lived the same lifestyle as her parents, and their parents, and their parents' parents. Tracking her down for an interview was very difficult, as she migrates alongside her livestock. Finally, however, I was able to catch her twenty miles north of Ulaan Baatar, where she and her extended family have set up their ger. Once inside, I am sat down and offered some horse stew and a creamy cup of tea._

The interview is a difficult process. Oyuunchimeg is a proud individual; she refuses to use the translating software I have offered her, and instead I am forced to brush up on the little Mongolian I know, with help from her sons and daughters, many of whom speak English and Chinese. Once I make my purpose clear, she goes into a lengthy monologue, allowing me little questions.

A: I was the same back then as I am now; only that I have more wrinkles.

 _Laughs_.

I traveled with my horses, and I lived by them. I wear their furs. I drink their milk. I eat their meat. Sometimes, I would travel to the capital and trade my horse products in the market for spices and other goods. I lived with my mother and father during this time, learning all that I could from them, just as they had from their own parents.

Despite my isolation, I still knew of the star-lizards coming towards us. It was all the people in the city talked about, whenever I came in to trade. Many were jubilant, and many were afraid. To much stir in my family, my father bought a radio and portable television, so we could watch the news. I was a young woman then; I was curious about the world, so I would sit and watch with him.

 **Q: Were you afraid like the others?  
**  
A: Yes. No. It did not take long for us to learn that they came to take the world from us. My father grew very worried during this time. He would sit with my mother after a day's work, and talk about what we were to do if the star-lizards came to our country and took our homes. He still remembered the stories his own father used to tell him, about living under the Soviets.

 _Another laugh.  
_  
I was more knowledgeable about the world during this time. I knew that the Americans and Chinese and Russians were preparing to fight, and encouraging everyone else to. Our own country even began to conscript the few able-bodied men we had. My two brothers were forced to go to the army bases and learn how to fight.

But I was not worried. After all, we have very few people, and little to offer. Were the star-lizards really going to come here to take our horses, instead of fighting America or Russia for their precious resources? Were a people who could travel the stars really going to risk lives for our farms and milk?

And if they did, we could simply do what we were already doing, and move away. If they took the west, then we would simply take our horses east. If they took the north, then we would move south. And if they took everything... well, there was no point in worrying over something I could do nothing about.

 **Q: Where were you when the Race landed in Ulaan Baatar?  
**  
A: In the city outskirts, coming back from the market. I was married, then, and living with another family. It was my husband and father-in-law who saw the flashes first. Light, bathing the city and surrounding mountains in white, then red. There was panic in the streets, then. I saw people shaking broken streetlights, or trying to make their old cars work.

It was half an hour later, when we were leaving the city behind us, that we saw the first of the fighting. I saw planes flying over the mountains, chasing each other past the horizon, bombs darting through the air. I later learned that it was our paltry air-force, taking on the invader's planes. We destroyed twenty of them, but we numbered only twelve, and the pilots were killed to a man.

I still remember the sight of their great metal ships, descending into the heart of the city on spears of fire. One of them landed six kilometers from us, and I saw its belly open up, and spill out the star-lizards. Thousands of them, looking much like men from a distance. I saw their tanks rolling towards the city, where much smoke was rising. I can still remember the sounds of their guns as they engaged our soldiers.

We fled after that, moving past the mountains. We met with other families, and two of them had radios that still worked. While we cowered during the light of day, we passed the time by listening to the radios, listening to the news from the city.

We learned that Ulaan Baatar fell that same night. More than ten thousand had been killed, and now the star-lizards were cementing their hold over the city, while moving towards the Chinese border.

All seemed lost. Our soldiers had been routed throughout the country-side; we even met with a few lost envoys, and gave them the best hospitality we could. They told us of how the lizard-men looked, with their scaly skin and bulging eyes, and we shuddered to think of what they were doing to those still in the city. We didn't know that they were relatively kind to those they conquered; we only knew of the destruction they had wrought doing so.

A week after the landings, the soldiers left. The Chinese could not help us, as they were fighting in the slaughterhouse that was Shanghai, but the Russians were coming down from the north, gathering our stragglers and preparing a counter-offensive.

 _She gives another wry laugh.  
_  
Once again, the Russians were invading our country. But this time, it was to fight an even worse foe.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess III**

 _Wallafess hails a self-driving car, and we leave the Race Free Zone behind. We are silent for the most part during the ride, save for some commentary on the locals. Twenty minutes later, we arrive at a pier at Salt Lake, where he has a small canoe. Hopping inside, he gestures for me to follow, then gently begins to row away from the shore. Once we are some distance out, he pulls out a fishing net and hands it to me.  
_  
A: I've grown to really like fishing. Never could do it on Home; the nearest sea was a few light years away.

 **Q: You do realize that there are almost no fish in Salt Lake, right?  
**  
A: Considering that I've been here for fifteen years, yeah. I come here for the brine shrimp. Tasty little morsels.

 _He absentmindedly sweeps the net through the water, pulling up a yellowish clump. He takes a bit out of the mush, then dumps the rest in a bucket.  
_  
I think you'll find it relaxing.

 _I also start collecting brine shrimp. We work for a few minutes, then I continue the interview.  
_  
 **Q: You say you were stationed on the _Yower,_ correct?  
**  
A: Yep.

 **Q: Would you then care to talk about the landing in Shanghai?  
**  
A: It shall be- sure thing. Sssss... Well, I definitely remember being scared out of my mind. When the order to land came through, the officers told all of us to strap in, and get ready for a hell of a ride. Rastin and I made some lame jokes while loaded our guns and grabbed the handholds. Last minute gossip about what you guys were hiding, and all that. Rastin even bet me that we'd just find some mud huts.

 **Q: You were given no intelligence reports on the city?  
**  
A: Well, we didn't exactly have any doctrines for that kind of thing. The briefing basically consisted of "If you see a Tosevite with a weapon, shoot it. If it doesn't have a gun, tell it to surrender, then shoot it if it refuses." I still remember having to practice the word I had to say. _Tóuxiáng. Tóuxiáng._ It was the only phrase they taught me.

The ride down was bumpy. We were as quiet as the grave when we began slowing down through the atmosphere. That was when we heard the dogfighting.

 **Q: Dogfighting?  
**  
A: I didn't know at the time, but the Chinese sent a bunch of fighters after us, trying to engage the ships in the stratosphere. We had a hundred killercraft accompanying us down, and we lost seventy of those trying to divert them away. The only reason we didn't lose them all was because the Chinese were more focused on stopping the landing in Beijing. Still, we lost the _Ssazama_ to SAMs. To think that if we'd been first, it would've been the end...

Anyway, the _Yower_ had a big jolt, and we realized we'd actually landed. Didn't have any time to let it sink in before the doors opened up, and we had to haul tail-stump out of there.

 **Q: What was your first impression of Earth like?  
**  
A: Cold. That was the first thing I felt when I ran down the ramp after the landcruisers. Cold air in my face, and freezing ground under my feet. We'd landed in the middle of some major park. It think it was Shìjì Gōngyuán. I mean, Century Park. I remember stepping out in a clearing, surrounded by... well, an alien place. I just spent a moment gawking at everything. The trees, the grass, the pathways and benches... it was all unlike anything back Home.

Then my superior barked at me to hurry up with the rest of my squad, and do our job. It was hard to keep track of everything going on. Tens of thousands of us, spilling out in all directions, just rushing forward. All of our remaining killercraft and helicopters were flying overhead, doing reconnaissance and bombing anything that looked threatening.

 **Q: Did you experience any combat that night?  
**  
A: For the most part, no. I think we'd kinda caught the Chinese by surprise when we landed directly in the city, instead of more tactically advantageous positions. In retrospect, it was a smart move on Fucklord Straha's part, especially considering what happened to the ships that _did_ land in the outskirts.

We were ordered to meet up with the forces of the _Jahasev_ , which landed closer to the famous part of the city. We got shuffled into a troopcarrier, and drove through the city. Me, being the unlucky one of the bunch, had to hang off the side.

I saw my first Tosevites when we were leaving the park. Some other squads had found a bunch of them, and were herding them into manageable circles so the intelligence officers could begin questioning.

It... it wasn't what I was expecting. Even after learning how much you'd advanced as a species, I kept on imagining filthy brutes wearing rags and brandishing swords, grunting in gibberish as they just charged into a hail of bullets. Instead, I saw... people. Taller and bigger than me, and definitely ugly, but they were clean and wearing neatly-made coverings. They were all huddled together, visibly scared. Instead of soldiers, I saw innocent civilians who'd had the bad luck of enjoying a night in the park when we came. There were crying children, and wrinkled old folk who were trying to comfort the others.

The city was chaos. _Chaos_. Most people had been forced into shelters when our ships were detected, but there were still plenty out in the streets, trying to either fight back or get the hell out. I saw a bunch of automobiles smashed into each other, and people running through traffic. And the _screaming_... I didn't know sentient beings could make noises like that.

 _Wallafess scoops some more brine shrimp into the bucket, then hisses in mirth.  
_  
I guess this is how I kinda felt then.

For the most part, I just watched the chaos. I pointed my gun around, as though to try and scare them, but I didn't shoot. When I saw their fear, I couldn't bring myself too. I just kept on shouting " _Tóuxiáng!_ " like some egg-addled idiot, like that would do anything. I learned later that I was speaking Standard Chinese, not Shanghainese, so a lot of them wouldn't even understand what I was saying.

It was maybe half an hour after landing that we got reports of clashes with the Chinese military that was rolling in from surrounding bases to take back their city. The _Zassawa, Ffalasa_ and _Grajaw_ were three of the unlucky ones that'd landed in the outskirts up north, and it was then that we realized just how screwed we were.

 **Q: Care to elaborate?**

A: I see you're a bit of a sadist.

Our forces in that area had over three hundred landcruisers and four hundred aircraft. A smaller Chinese force kicked their stumps all the way back to the landing site. They literally maneuvered circles around us, trapping those they couldn't just immediately flatten with artillery or bombing runs. I think that little battle cost us three quarters of our forces in the area, while the Chinese lost a tenth.

I think it was the next night that we lost the _Grajaw_.

Thankfully, I was away from that meat-grinder. I was simply going through panicked streets, shooing civilians out of the way while we tried to meet up with the _Jahasev._ The crowds and little herds our troopmales made only got bigger as we progressed into the financial district. I remember gawking up at the all the skyscrapers. Home's architecture is a lot more... uniform. You've got simple domes and columns, with the occasional elaborate hall. But your skyscrapers were big, and I mean _big_. And _shiny_. Rastin took a few photos while were going through.

We had a skirmish with some heavily-armed cops not long after that. I'd disembarked from the troopcarrier, and was simply standing guard for a crowd we'd captured near one of those nice fountains they have. Then, Pfiraloss noticed the police, rolling towards us in their own troopcarriers. We had a pair of landcruisers on standby, and they took out three of them, but the others just kept going forward, until they shot out canisters of white gas. I didn't understand what was going on, until it touched my eyes, and I felt like I had a nasty headcold.

 **Q: You're saying you were teargassed?  
**  
A: Yes. I have to say, it was pretty crafty of them. I couldn't see anything past the tears, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I got scared. I started thinking I was going to die. It didn't help that the teargas also caused the civilians we'd rounded up to scatter as well. I nearly got trampled in the chaos, and I panicked. I fired a shot into the air, then some human slammed into me. We rolled around for a bit, until I pulled out my sidearm and put two rounds in its shoulder.

Thankfully he landcruisers took out the other troopcarriers, and the teargas started dispersing. I felt sick to the liver when I finally stood up and began to wipe my eyes clean.

That was when I looked at the human I'd shot. Some girl, probably in her twenties. She was clutching the wound, and sobbing. It probably means little to you, but the sounds you make when you cry is one of the most disturbing sounds I've ever heard. Throaty, meaty gasps...

I just stared for a moment at the blood leaking from the girl. I think what really got me was that it was the same color as mine. She was some big ugly alien, but she had the same stuff inside as I did.

 **Q: What did you do?  
**  
A: I just kept on saying "I'm sorry", like she'd even understand what I was saying. I was still mumbling it when some medics came to take her away to the ship for study.

There was a moment of... something, when I stood in that public square and watched them take her away, then looked at the blood on the pavement. In that single point of time, I was just thinking one thing: what am I _doing_? Why am I just on some alien planet, leaking mucus from my eyes and shooting scared people?

 _He puts the net away.  
_  
I asked myself that a lot. I still ask myself it.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi I**

 _Mamta Joshi agrees to meet me at a tea shop in New Delhi. Despite being nearly forty years old, her face is still youthfully smooth, and there are no grey streaks in her thick black hair. A nervous boy of ten approaches shortly after she and I sit down, and receives an autograph from the famous author.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview.  
**  
A: It is my pleasure. I've read your prior work, and found it immensely intriguing.

 **Q: Now, I know your time is limited, so I'll be quick. Where were you when the Race landed in Mumbai?  
**  
A: My, that is rather to the point. I suppose I need to elaborate a little about my life before the invasion. I am not sure how much you know about the cultures here, but my family name is of the Brahmin caste. Do you know much about the old castes in India?

 **Q: I'm afraid not.  
**  
A: Castes have been around for millennia, here. I won't go into much detail, but I'll simply say that there's quite a bit of ugliness regarding the whole thing. Upper castes treating lower castes like garbage, violence directed against people of a certain caste... and that's not even getting into the _dalit_... the untouchables. It was worse in the rural areas than it was in the cities, but even in 'cosmopolitan' parts the system held much sway. You're expected to marry within your caste, and even _socialize_ within it, in extreme cases. The government tried to mitigate it, but their reservation acts made it even worse in some aspects.

 **Q: How does this play into your experience?  
**  
A: It plays strongly into it.

 _Mamta takes a sip of her tea, and closes her eyes for a few moments, as though lost in thought.  
_  
I was a student in the University of Bombay at the time. When the Race came, their massive starships descending from the heavens, the city went into a panic. I must commend our armed forces for their preparation; they actually managed to shoot one down. I still remember the sight of those explosions in the sky as I was shuffled along a disaster of an evacuation route.

Mumbai'i was a big place, you must understand. Not just in population, but in area. So, while our jets darted about the skies, trying to gain air superiority, and the troops went to where the first ships landed, they couldn't respond that well to the other landings. Three of the ships touched down in Dharavi.

 **Q: Dharavi?  
**  
A: Dhavari was this massive, _fetid_ pile of a slum city. It was actually biggest in the world at the time, I believe; there was up to a million people living there before the landings. The Race faced no resistance there when they landed and let their troops swarm out. Even the people who wanted to fight had no weapons, and many could scarcely bring themselves to do anything but huddle and pray that the demons would not harm them.

The military started pushing them back in other areas, I recall, but the entire slum was firmly in their hold within a single hour. A few policemen went to fight, but they were slaughtered, along with anyone stupid enough to try and arm themselves with rocks and knives. Then they destroyed the police stations, and began bombing away at the army across the river, near where I was.

They cut off the evacuation routes by the University with their landcruisers, and I was trapped behind the frontlines. Before I knew it, I and two hundred others were held at gunpoint by their troopcarriers, and slowly ushered towards Dharavi. I still remember that night. The smell of smoke, the wailing of sirens, the distant explosions as the battle for the skies continued...

I found myself staring at the faces of the Race as they forced me towards the slums. It was the first time I had ever seen an alien before, though it would be far from my last. I was captivated by their scaly faces, and their swiveling eyes. I was surprised by the Hallessi the most, with their gangly eyestalks that looked as though they would snap in the wind.

The journey was a miserable five hours. Imagine being pressed together against people of all shapes and sizes, including children who couldn't control their bladders and bowels for so long. Some man tried to grope me, only for someone else to break his fingers. There was crying, moaning, prayers... we'd cower and flinch whenever aircraft flew overhead, or when there was a nearby explosion, but we were still pushed onwards.

We merged into more groups along the way, as we were pulled deeper and deeper into their claws. By the time we arrived in Dhavari, there were thousands of us. We were all hot, tired, and terrified. Many of us were sick as well. I had to walk over puddles of vomit and other... fluids.

The Race had made Dharavi into a base of operations while their troops fought with ours for the city. They'd flattened many of the buildings, replacing them with prefabricated bunkers and barracks and everything else they needed. Latrines, canteens, even medical centers.

I received a surprise from them, as I was guided into the slums. I saw them _helping_ people. They'd brought over the doctors from the hospitals, and were working alongside them to provide relief to many of the people there. I saw them giving children bandages for infected wounds, and providing starved beggars with food from the stores and warehouses they'd raided.

 **Q: What was your night there like?  
**  
A: They soon learned that I could speak their tongue, and so I was made into a translator for everything they needed. Which meant that I was constantly being shuffled from spot to spot that night, frantically providing them translations for patients and the people they were shuffling into the barracks. A few people called me traitor that night. One even spat in my face, only to get his nose broken by a burly Rabotev guard.

Tensions were high in that camp. People of all sorts of castes and classes were being forced shoulder-to-shoulder; millionaires had to share barracks with the lowliest of beggars, Hindus with Muslims, Muslims with Christians, and upper castes with lower castes. There were shouting matches, and even full-on brawls that needed to be dispersed with a few shots into the air.

There was one moment that night that I still carry with me. One of the Race officers, some Hallessi with blue paint on his chest, called me over to help him handle a situation.

 **Q: What kind of situation?  
**  
A: Some man with a fat belly had attempted to take a ration pack from a child whose ribs I could see, only to be caught. He promptly spat invectives at the troopmales, and I had to translate for this bastard.

"Why did you try and take the girl's food?" the officer had me ask. "She clearly needs it more than you."

To that, the man had given me a rambling response that essentially boiled down to, "I'm a upper-caste (I can't remember which he said), and she's _dalit_. I should not be forced to share with her."

I still remember the Hallessi officer turning one stalk to the girl, and the other to the man. Then, how he pointed his stalks at each other, which I learned was their way of expressing laughter.

"I only see a fat man and a hungry girl," he had me say. "Take her food again, and you'll be thrown in a cell."

That still sticks with me. To think, that an alien imperialist culture, who'd come to take the planet from us and make humanity loyal to their Emperor, displayed more compassion to that little girl than my own culture ever had.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Two: First Landings_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Saeed I**

 _Lieutenant General Abd Fattah Saeed is the current commander of the North Africa Defense Pact's air wing. My impression of him when I step into his office in Alexandria is of a veritable mountain of a man, with a broad barrel chest and a bushy grey beard. He seems to purposely use his prosthetic arm to shake my hand as he sits me down for the interview.  
_  
A: So, I'd imagine you're here to ask me about the Battle of Cairo.

 **Q: Well, yes. It's often regarded as a crucial battle in the African theater of the war.  
**  
A: That it was. I feel like a lot of people like to overlook Africa in favor of China and the other 'big places'. They seem to forget that when the Lizards first landed, they hit this continent the hardest. Four landings, with no ships shot down. That meant that within twenty four hours, there were three and a half _million_ of those scaly devils in Africa. Nearly a million of them landed in the desert near Cairo alone.

 _Saeed lights a cigarillo, taking a puff. Smoke wafts past his lips, giving him an almost fearsome appearance.  
_  
That's the sort of numbers we'd only seen in the Second World War. The Germans and Italians sent less than a third of that number into my country, and that was spread out across a rather broad front. _This_ force, however, was all concentrated in a fairly small area, and right outside the capital. And there was no British Army to help us.

 **Q: That still didn't stop you from preventing a complete rout.  
**  
A: We were the only ones who did. Mogadishu and Zanzibar both fell in six hours. Johannesburg fell in seventeen. We, on the other hand, managed to keep those bastards from cross the Nile for two days. We'd prepared for an invasion from the desert, you see. Mines, barbed wire, missile batteries... I was one of the pilots in the air when they came down. I have to say, their killercraft, while impressive in design, couldn't make up for the ineptitude of their pilots. They made easy pickings. I shot down three during the first day.

 **Q: Then how were the Race able to gain air superiority at first?  
**  
A: Numbers. Their aircraft outnumbered ours three to one. Six to one, if you consider the fact that our forces were spread out across the country. You see, that's the main advantage the Lizards had over us: logistics and numbers. Our jets were as good as theirs, and our crews' skills made up for the slight edge their tanks had, but there was simply too many of them.

So, we pulled back to Alexandria in a fighting retreat, then regrouped for a counteroffensive. The Lizards didn't chase us there; they were too busy trying to cement their hold over Cairo. From what I heard, the guerilla fighting was intense. Civilians swarming isolated troopmales and beating them to death, children distracting landcruiser crews long enough for the adults to put satchel charges...

 **Q: Where did they get satchel charges?  
**  
A: There were many military families who'd been taught a few tricks, in case they were caught behind enemy lines. How to make Molotov cocktails and pressure cooker bombs, for example. Not to mention there were still some active terrorist cells...

 **Q: That must've felt strange.  
**  
A: No. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more, and no less. Just because they were blowing up Lizards instead of civilians for the time being did not suddenly make them our friends.

Anyway, back to the counteroffensive. People like to call the whole thing the Battle of Cairo, but it felt more like the Second Battle. The first was when they drove us out of the city. That was a loss. A manageable one, but a loss nevertheless. It damaged morale, seeing those ships towering over our homes, and knowing that they were spreading their attention along the Nile like some cancer...

 _Saeed closes his eyes, thinking for a moment.  
_  
This was not just a matter of morale for Egypt, but for the world. Mumbai had fallen by then. Shanghai was still a nightmare of urban warfare. The Russians still had yet to smash into the forces in Mongolia. Half of Somalia was under the Lizards' control, and South Africa was scrambling to try and liberate their capital. Sure, the Americans and Russians had shot down the attempts to land in their own soil, but that was of little comfort to us. We _needed_ to win at Cairo, to show that it wasn't just the Americans and Russians who could win against these invaders.

 **Q: And so, the counterattack was launched.  
**  
A: It took six days to gather our forces from the south. The other Arab League countries were too busy helping Iran with the invasion in Tehran to help us, save for Jordan and Lebanon. Thankfully, we still had our communications up, so we were able to coordinate with them, as well as NATO. There was an American CBG near Cyprus, which would help immensely with the air wing.

The biggest surprise was when Israel offered their aid. I'm sure you're aware of the tensions that were around before then. If the enemy had been anyone else, I'm sure we would've refused. But today, it wasn't Egyptians and Israelis and Jordanians. It was humans against invaders from the stars.

I remember the evening before the attack, when I made my prayers facing Mecca. I prayed for the sake of my country, and my family. I prayed for our pilots.

Then, after a moment, I prayed for the Israelis as well.

And so, we launched our attack at the stroke of midnight. I flew out with the first wave, accompanied by four hundred other Egyptian fighters and bombers. Our ground forces followed behind us, while the second wave of aircraft prepared to give them backup.

The Americans and other NATO aircraft joined with us shortly after, thirty miles north of Cairo, then the Israelis and Jordanians came along as well. Altogether, there was nearly nine hundred of us, bearing down on the Lizards' asses.

 **Q: What was the air battle like?  
**  
A: The Lizards detected us, and flew out to try and prevent our assault. This time, however, we outnumbered them by a half. Their pilots were disorganized, horribly disciplined; it was easy to break their air fleet into smaller parts and take them out. Twenty or so managed to limp back to Cairo, and we'd lost only eighty of our own.

We went for their starships, first. We didn't want them to be able to retreat, especially after the indignity they had laid upon us. The American ground attack craft took care of two starships, then our bombers took out the rest. The rest of our forces bombed the targets on the ground. Armor columns, prefabricated bunkers, and so on. I must admit, their SAMs are lethal; we lost nearly sixty aircraft to them. We made sure to destroy them next.

By this time, we were low on ammunition. So, we circled back, just in time for the second wave to come in, the ground force following shortly behind.

The Lizards were in complete disarray, thanks to our first wave. Combined with the fact that our ground forces numbered half a million, and... well, I'm sure the textbooks will tell you the rest.

There were only ninety thousand of them left when they surrendered. The Americans took charge of those. I didn't complain; I was just happy to see my city liberated. My, the festivities we held amongst the wreckage.

 _He pauses, then pulls out a familiar photo. It shows a group of Egyptian soldiers posing in front of a destroyed killercraft, smiles on their tired and dirty faces. In the background, the Great Pyramid of Giza can be seen.  
_  
Did you know I was actually in this picture? You can see me at the edge, with the sunglasses. I still remember that moment, when the Israeli pilot took the photo. I was... euphoric. Yes, that's the right word. The invaders had come, and they had taken my city, but I had taken it right back from them. We'd shown the world that even the smaller countries could fight back and win, that the invaders were not unbeatable.

I repeated that to myself during darker times in this war.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Front Page of Reddit: November 25th, 2020**

(200k) **Cairo has been successfully liberated, US and Egyptian military sources claim.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/worldnews two hours ago - 11000 comments  
(120k) **The smiles of winners.** **Egyptian and Israeli pilots celebrating in front of crashed killercraft near Great Pyramid.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/pics forty-five minutes ago - 298 comments  
(80k) **"We will die before we surrender." Iranian President Gilani urges civilians to take up arms against the Race, while giving a broadcast from the provisional capital in Isfahan.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews three hours ago - 9034 comments  
(100k) **My sister lives in South Africa, and just texted me this picture of a landcruiser going down her street. Her house's in Mokopone. I think they're in bigger trouble than the news is saying.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/southafrica one hour ago - 4020 comments  
(40k) **TFW you come all the way to Earth in order to start a land war with Asia** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/dankmemes three hours ago - 122 comments  
(70k) **Dude in the occupied part of Mumbai just posted a video of the Lizards giving a crippled kid crutches. No idea how to feel about this.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/videos six hours ago - 13129 comments  
(90k)[NSFL] **Brazilian police officers lynching a captured Hallessi.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/invasion ten hours ago - 2291 comments  
(180k) **30000 US troops have arrived to help defend Sao Paulo, Brazilian Prime Minster claims.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/worldnews thirteen hours ago - 19920 comments  
(300k) **Chinese bombers taking out Race starship in Shanghai.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/videos one day ago - 49020 comments  
(50k) **Space clay no want play** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/polandball one day ago - 201 comments  
(110k) **Is anyone else kinda confused by all the reports coming from occupied territory? It's like the Race actually give a shit about civilians.** [self]  
Posted to /r/invasion one day ago - 23918 comments  
(235k) **"We will give them no quarter." Russian forces pursuing Race forces in Northern Mongolia.** [russiantimes]  
Posted to /r/worldnews one day ago - 20014 comments  
(31k) **How it feels when you want to make anime shitposts, but everyone's just talking about the alien invasion.** [gif]  
Posted to /r/reactiongifs two days ago - 320 comments  
(40k) **CAIRO VICTORY UPVOTE PARTY! TO THE TOP!** [self]  
Posted to /r/egypt twenty minutes ago - 134 comments  
(143k) **Some kid in Ulaan Baatar has been taking selfies with Lizard troops. Here's the album he just posted.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/invasion one day ago - 19484 comments  
(87k) **When everyone's talking about the Race but you worried as hell about the big warship coming in.** [gif]  
Posted to /r/dankmemes two days ago - 2901 comments  
(130k) **Here's a pretty kitty to keep your mind off things!** [ ]  
Posted to /r/awww three days ago - 1034 comments  
(240k) **Indian Army has retreated from Mumbai to regroup. City is now fully under Race control.** [newyorktimes]  
Posted to /r/worldnews one hour ago - 11103 comments  
(141k) **Fuck the Race. Fuck the Rabotevs. If this gets 100k upvotes, the sub will become Hallessi-themed.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/circlejerk three days ago - 1903 comments  
(30k) **Captured Race equipment currently under study.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews one hour ago - 103 comments  
(190k) **How Atvar must be feeling right now.** [img]  
Posted to /r/lizardmemes one day ago - 1930 comments  
(400k) **JOHANNESBURG HAS OFFICIALLY FALLEN. GOVERNMENT HAS MOVED TO CAPETOWN.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews six days ago - 110494 comments  
(20k) **Bad Luck Race** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/adviceanimals four days ago - 2019 comments  
(125k) **My brother's in the US Navy. Here's him posing with a piece of starship they dredged up two hundred miles offshore.** [img]  
Posted to /r/pics two days ago - 4910 comments  
(600k) **Official Landings Megathread** [self]  
Posted to /r/worldnews seven days ago - 1381088 comments

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **From the Journal of Shistvan, dated November 28th, 2020**

 _I hate this planet._

Half the time, whenever I have time to think about something that isn't combat on this Emperor-forsaken world, I feel like I'm in a dream. No, dreams are pleasant. This is a nightmare. It is as though this place was deliberately made to fly against everything we consider right and good, or even sane.

Everything was going well, at first. We took the city they called Mogadishu with relative ease; the Tosevite forces were poorly equipped and trained. Their landcruisers seemed horribly primitive in comparison to the reports I've heard from Zhōngguó and Indiya. They were lucky if they only lost four when taking down one of ours. We've already smashed their military forces to the ground, and there's only a few pockets of resistance up north, near the excuse of a city they call Hargeysa.

And yet, we're still bleeding, here. Even though the military is gone, the people still resist. I've lost count of the number of improvised explosives we've encountered in our sweep up the not empire. Even if most of them fail to destroy our landcruisers, they still cause us costly delays.

That's not the worst of it. The improvised mines were not completely unexpected. What I wasn't expecting was what happened this morning.

I was doing a sweep with my squad as the division passed through a smallish city whose name I haven't bothered to remember. Not much resistance; there were a few trucks with guns on them, but we took them out with ease. The people there were the typical Tosevites in this not empire: tall, black-skinned, and thin. Many of them were starving. I never saw starving people on Home. I'm still not used to the sight.

So, we were going up the main street, which was made of gravel, and this old Tosevite comes out of a nearby home and starts approaching us. We weren't threatened at all; he was clearly at the end of his life, with wrinkled skin and white hair. His eyes were yellowish, which I imagine was a sign of disease. I don't know. It doesn't matter.

This old Tosevite slowly hobbled towards us, raising his hands and saying something in his language with a smile on his face. The only one of us who knew how to speak it was our squad leader Ttish. So, he hopped out of the troopcarrier and went over to talk with him. Ushak and Stizin went along with him, but we were cracking jokes about the whole thing. Back up for a harmless old Tosevite, right?

Ttish spoke with the old man for a minute, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe he thought the man wanted him to get medical attention for a mate or child. I'll never know.

What I do know, is that the old Tosevite suddenly hugged Ttish, and before I knew it, I was on the ground, a ringing in my ears. When I finally got up, I nearly threw up.

There was just a red and black circle in the street where the four of them used to be. Some of the more liquid bits had spattered onto the walls of nearby buildings, it was that big a circle. Some of it got on my face, and Zawat got some in his mouth. Last I saw before he was sent back to base for a psych eval, he still had the same look of shock on his face.

Another squad came barreling in to look for any other bombs, and we took the time to try and clean up the mess. I never thought I'd have to scoop up my commander and comrades with a shovel and put them in a biohazard bag.

The worst part where the bits I recognized. The Tosevite's thumb, charred black at the end. A bit of Ushak's snout. I think the worst was when I found Stizin's eyestalk. We always joked with him about the stalks, since he was a Hallessi. 'How do you keep them from breaking when you bump into stuff', and other stupid things.

Well, Stistin was paste on the ground, but the stalk was still intact. It was like it was looking back at me when I put it in the bag.

The country's going to fall by morning. The President's been captured, and the Shiplords are planning on having him order a stand-down. If not, then we can just bomb them until they give up. Then the Shiplords want us to move west. The Fleetlord ordered three more landings on this continent, using the forces that were supposed to have landed in other places. I think the closest one's in Bangui.

I'm not sure how long we're going to be here. Rumor has it that we're going to break out the atomics by the end of the year, if we haven't captured at least a quarter of the planet.

To be honest, I'm not sure how that'd go. Even if it does work, even if we somehow beat the Americans and Russiya and Zhōngguórèn and make the rest of the world follow in their footsteps, I don't think we'll be able to keep Tosev III.

There are seven billion Tosevites, apparently. If even only one in a thousand are like that old Tosevite, then we aren't going to last until the Colonization Fleet gets here.

Assuming the other aliens don't kill us first, that is.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Igoshin I**

 _Ret. Lieutenant Mikhail Fyodorovitch Igoshin is a rather unassuming-looking man, which belies the notoriety he and his fellow soldiers received during the war. Despite being in his forties, he has what can only be described as a baby face, and he is rather soft-spoken and polite during our interview in Moscow. We sit down in a park, and break the ice with a game of chess while I ask my questions.  
_  
 **Q: Is it true that you and your squad were amongst the first responders to the Race's landing in Mongolia?  
**  
A: Yes. When the _yascherits_ brought their ships down in Ulaan Baatar, the Central and Eastern Military Districts were ordered to relieve the Mongolian forces. Which, we liked to joke about, was code for "Shit shit shit, let's push them towards China before they go north." There was almost no actual relief of beleaguered Mongolians, because there were almost _no_ Mongolian forces left. Most of the army was either dead or captured after Ulaan Baatar fell.

I was in the Central Military District, in the 41st Army. We were accompanied by the 29th Army, the 5th Red Banner Army, and whole bunch of others. Overall, the force was around five hundred thousand men. The _yascherits_ numbered eight hundred thousand, and they had twice as many planes.

Back then, I was only a private, with no combat experience, and scared out of my wits. None of my squad had any experience, with the exception of Iosef, who was an old Afghanistan veteran with back problems. Still, when the order went out, we followed through without hesitation, because we knew that none of the _yascherits_ had experience, either.

 **Q: Could you describe the counteroffensive?  
**  
A: I'm not sure how well I can. Let's see...

 _He takes one of my pawns, then rubs his meaty chin.  
_  
There was little in the way of strategic maneuvering. Mongolia's a flat country, with only a few mountains. This wasn't going to be like the previous modern wars, where movements were almost like surgery. The higher-ups simply gathered as much manpower as they could, and we charged down the steppes towards Ulaan Baatar. Our fighters and bombers went first, to try and gain air superiority , then we were sent in.

 **Q: What was your experience during that?  
**  
A: A lot of driving. I was crammed into the back of an APC, along with sixteen others. We didn't see combat until five hours after the operation's start, when we came across a small _yascherit_ force taking a place called Darkhan. We and twenty other squads were sent in, along with sixteen T-14 Armatas and a few IFVs.

The _yascherits_ didn't know what hit them. Our T-14s took out their landcruisers quickly enough, and the enemy surrendered after our IFVs tore a hole into their ranks. I was almost disappointed; I didn't get to fire a single shot against them.

I was ordered to safeguard the town with my squad and two others, while the rest went to rejoin the push towards Ulaan Baatar. I spent most of that time just keeping the _yascherits_ at gunpoint, and sampling Mongolian hasish with the locals. I saw Iosef disappear into one of _yurts_ with some woman who looked old enough to be my babuskha.

 **Q: How did you treat the Race prisoners?  
**  
A: We just made sure they weren't going anywhere. They were all huddled up against each other, shivering, many of them wrapped in stolen wools. Pieter knew some of their tongue, and he just casually chatted with them, asking a few questions.

That was when we learned that half of their landcruisers had stopped working before we even arrived. _Chuckles_. As it turned out, when you come from a hot desert planet, you probably never considered inventing antifreeze. Even alien invaders from another star were helpless before General Winter. We actually gave some hats out of pity.

 **Q: I must admit, I'm surprised by your description of their treatment. Most news of the time said that the Russian High Command intended to give them no quarter.  
**  
A: That was just something our Defense Minister said to make us look strong. Giving them quarter was important. Not necessarily because we wanted to be humane, but because we wanted answers from the prisoners. We wanted to learn about their technology, and you couldn't get answers from the dead. Besides, we'd figure they'd make good leverage for any negotiations.

 _After I make my move, he suddenly takes out my rook with a knight. He grins, then leans back a little.  
_  
I think the Red Army gave us Russians a bad name when it comes to human rights. Everyone seems to like to think of us Russian soldiers as foul-mouthed vodka drinkers who just casually slaughter civilians left and right and commit atrocities. We're people too, you know. Sure, maybe we weren't as well-disciplined as other nations, and the High Command was certainly more callous than most of its counterparts, but we're not just a bunch of brutes.

What we did to the Germans, while wrong, was born out of immense anger. Meanwhile, while the _yascherits_ were scaly invaders, they hadn't really done anything to us at that point. They hadn't sent our parents to camps, or enslaved our brothers and raped our sisters. Our killing of them was more... distant, and less passionate.

 **Q: How long where you there?**

A: Not long. By tank, it'd take sixteen hours to get from the starting point of our offensive to Ulaanbaatar. It was twelve hours later that we received news that the _yascherits_ had retreated from Ulaanbaatar and back into space, leaving countless vehicles behind due to the cold. They left thousands of their kind behind, too.

There were some festivities in that town when we got the news over the radio. We broke out the drinks, put on some atrocious punk music, and had a hell of a time.

Then we got the news of the other landings. Bangui. Kabul. Kano. Hyderabad. Chengdu. Riyadh. Hamhung.

A silence hung in the air, when we realized that there were probably a few more million of those fuckers planetside. I think we let our victory, and the victory in Cairo, get to our heads too much. We'd beaten them back in easy places, but now the war was going to get much harder. I think we all knew that, standing in that cold Mongolian town. The _yascherits_ were visibly amused by our distress, too.

The only relief in that moment was when Iosef finally stumbled out of the _yurt_ with the biggest grin on his face, asking why the festivities had stopped. The look on his face...

 _He closes his eyes, and pinches his forefinger and thumb together, holding it up for me to see.  
_  
Priceless.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar II**

 _Atvar pulls out an old holoprojector and places it on his desk. Flicking it on with his index fingerclaw, he shows me an image of a knight on horseback.  
_  
A: This what we were expecting you to be, when we arrived in the system. After all, there was no reason for such a sudden technological leap forward in such a short time. I could count on one hand the differences in our technology between today and when we first discovered your planet. You already know the shock we felt when we discovered a modern civilization on this chilly egg of a planet, but I'm not sure if you can _understand_ it, on the same level we did.

I was still hoping for a swift victory over the planet when we made our landings. That was quickly dashed when we lost four starships on the opening day. Less than twelve hours into the invasion, and we'd lost a hundred times as many troopmales as our previous conquests combined.

Still, we had to push on. There was no other choice. If we retreated Homeward after the destruction our forces had already wrought upon some of your cities, then the Colonization Fleet would have been the target of your wrath. If we surrendered, then there was no doubt that you would have been able to reverse-engineer our technology, and threaten Home within a mere few generations.

And yet, it seemed that failure was our only option. Our computer programs depleted a total depletion of our first wave within two Tosevite months, if we continued on the path we'd set out. If we were to win, or at least gain enough of a upper hand to preserve the Colonization Fleet, then a change of plan was needed.

 **Q: You say that the Race is slow to change, and slow to adapt. How were you able to try and change your doctrine after only twelve days?  
**  
A: Such an unthinkable situation needed an unthinkable response. That was the chant of Straha and his faction during the first week of the invasion. Of course, for them, the 'unthinkable response' was to simply break out the atomics and try to turn your planet into radioactive glass. I knew that solution was undesirable _and_ infeasible.

 **Q: Would you care to elaborate?  
**  
A: Our explosive metal bomb arsenal was not very sizable when compared to the larger nations, especially Russiya. Combined with the effectiveness of the more advanced nations' anti-air defenses, and it was likely that we would only be able to destroy a few cities in the less-advanced nations. While it would've likely plunged the planet into nuclear winter, it also would've ensured the total destruction of our forces, and seal Home's fate for good.

 _He takes another sip of his brandy.  
_  
Therefore, I decided on another course.

 _He presses a button, and the projector shifts, showing Race gains after the Battle of Cairo. Two more dots appear in Africa, along with one in China, one in North Korea, and two more in the Middle East.  
_  
We would focus on the weaker nations for the time being, especially the ones that were more hospitable to us. Many of the forces in the region were trying to dislodge the landings we'd already made, which meant that the rest of their not-empires were relatively defenseless. Resistance would be far less pronounced, and territorial gains appropriately increased. Once enough territory was under our control, we would once again demand Tosev III's total surrender, using our holdings and atomic arsenal as leverage.

 **Q: How would the atomic arsenal be used as leverage?  
**  
A: The Tosevites would have more to lose if they tried to use their atomics against us, as such strikes would also kill millions of their own people. On the other claw, it would have been less risky for us to threaten nuclear warfare when our enemy was less inclined. We would demand that America and Russiya make no moves against us, in exchange for no attacks on their own soil.

 **Q: A non-aggression pact.  
**  
A: That's the Tosevite term, yes.

Once we had their non-aggression pacts, then we could freely take over the smaller countries one by one, then focus our remaining forces into Zhōnguó and Indiya. Even with what we assumed were worst-case scenarios, we would still have thirty-two million males to attack the two not-empires with. Even they would not be able to stand against a force, and we would have more than half the Tosevite population under our grasp. Enough to consolidate our strength, and perhaps use local populations as ancillary forces for the final push into the remaining not-empires, including America and Russiya.

 _He takes a long draught of brandy, emptying the glass.  
_  
Well... that was the _plan_ , anyway...

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wáng III**

 _Wáng finishes his meal, then is allowed out of his straitjacket under armed watch so he can do his daily exercises. It is now that I see just just how deceptively muscular he is; he has the build of a weightlifter, and rather well-toned arms. There are some Hanzi tattooed on his left bicep; I don't know what they say._

Once finished, he is restrained once again without a fuss, and he smiles at me as we continue our interview.

 **Q: Now, what was your time at Shanghai like?  
**  
A: I did not see any combat, if that is your real question. I was far from the frontlines in the financial district; I simply treated any patients sent my way. Soldiers, mainly, though I also treated the odd civilian who was fleeing the destruction. Occasionally, one of their killercraft would fly overhead, and I would take cover like the others, but nothing came of it. The Race was struggling to prevent more air raids on their remaining starships in the city; they could not spare any fighters to attack us on the ground.

That passed for ten days or so. The Race had an initial advantage of numbers over us, but I saw more and more troops passing by my medical tent with each passing day, and the news got more and more optimistic. Most of the city had been reclaimed, and we'd killed thousands of the little scaly devils with fewer losses for our own soldiers. It was being predicted that we'd have all of Shànghâi back under our flag within the week.

Then, of course, we received the news of the landing in Chéngdū. I still remember the moment I heard the news. It was a fine morning, and I was removing some shrapnel from a corporal's ankle. Then, the radio began playing a emergency broadcast.

 _"The Race has landed in Chéngdū. Repeat, the Race has landed in Chéngdū."  
_  
There was the usual drivel about evacuation plans for civilians, but I didn't hear it past my own growing terror.

 **Q: What was the reaction to the landing?  
**  
A: Horror for many, and despair for others. A good third of our forces were focused in the area around the city, laying siege to the Race forces or providing relief for the civilians we liberated. The only other well-defended area was around the capital. The landing in Chéngdū was as though my country had been stabbed in the side, with nothing to protect herself with.

One of the men in my squad was from Chéngdū. He was a rather tall and strong soldier, whom almost everyone in the squad respected. When he heard the news, he simply stood there for a moment, then began to sob like a child.

I could not blame him. My family was still in Chóngqìng, around four hundred kilometers away. Meanwhile, I was nearly two thousand kilometers away. For an American, that would be as though the Race had landed in Miami while you are in New York, and your family was in that city with Disney World.

And that wasn't even considering the landing in Hamhung, which could easily spread to our northern borders, which meant that we were now fighting a three-front war, when we had been fighting just one beforehand.

And so, I was ordered to join the counteroffensive to liberate Chéngdū.

 **Q: And that was when you finally saw combat, yes?  
**  
 _Wáng gives me his friendly smile again.  
_  
A: Yes, that was when I would find my legacy.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Three: Counterattacks and the Second Wave_**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thapa I**

 _Ret. Naik Bishnu Thapa agrees to take the train down from his home in Nepal to meet me in New Delhi, where we sit down in a local park and start our interview. He proves to be a very polite and humble individual, and quietly requests that I remove his nervous stumbles while we speak.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. I know that many of the Gorkha Regiments prefer to avoid the spotlight.  
**  
A: As is proper. We should strive to fight for our country and its people, not our own personal glory.

 **Q: Now, the Gorkha Regiments became well-renowned for their actions in India against the Race. I know that you specifically saw combat near Hyderabad.  
**  
A: Indeed I did. I was a rifleman when I was first deployed alongside the rest of the 8 Gorkha Rifles. When the Race landed in Hyderabad, the forces in the region were forced to retreat northward, as they were caught almost completely off-guard. The armies trying to retake Mumbai'i now had to try and keep the Race from conquering the heart of the country at the same time.

To try and curb the upwards advance, they called us in.

 **Q: What was your mission?  
**  
A: The Race was setting up numerous bases as they spread out from the captured city. Our mission was to attack these bases to disrupt their advances, and bog them down long enough for reinforcements from the regiments near Delhi to arrive. I was part of the 6/8 Gorkha Rifles, which was to attack the base near Narsapur Lake. We numbered five hundred altogether, and were backed up by five tanks and ten IFVs.

We were flown in ten kilometers from the base, and dropped in from fifteen meters in order to avoid detection.

 **Q: Fifteen meters? How did your parachutes deploy in time?  
**  
 _Thapa gives me a confused look.  
_  
A: Parachutes? We simply landed in marshy ground.

 **Q: But even that's... never mind. What did you do after you landed?  
**  
A: We marched out of the marsh and towards the base, using the cover of darkness to avoid detection. The armor hung back, waiting for our signal while we prepared to mitigate the base's defenses.

I and twenty three others were sent to neutralize the guards that patrolled the base. Silence was important. If they saw us, they could prepare their forces, and increase our casualties. However, we are Gorkhas; this is what we have been trained to do for years. The same techniques our forefathers used against the Japanese could be used against the Race, even if they were aliens from another star.

 **Q: Which is?  
**  
A: What we do best. May you please stand up, sir?

 _I do as told. Thapa circles around me, then suddenly clamps a hand around my mouth and drags the edge of his hand across my throat, pantomiming a knife. He lets go, thanking me, and sits down.  
_  
The Race's species don't have lips, and wider mouths. To silence them, we had to pinch their jaws shut, much like when handling a small crocodile. We also needed to lift them up for a proper cut, due to their diminutive stature. Still, they have throats, and their throats were just as easy to cut, if not more so. One's head even came all the way off when I killed him.

It was simple, taking down the guards. By then they had already discovered the ginger root, and were becoming even more undisciplined. They would casually walk around the perimeter in pairs, chatting to themselves and tasting the spice. When they were between security cameras, we would move in pairs ourselves and kill them simultaneously with our khukuris. They make no noise when their throat is sliced open, due to how their vocal organs work.

Only six minutes passed between the first of the guards being killed and the last one. We then radioed in for the attack.

 **Q: How did that go?  
**  
A: As expected. They didn't see our tanks smashing through the gates until it was too late. Our tanks shot what we assumed was their communications station, then started destroying their landcruisers while they were still unmanned. The rest of us climbed the fences or went through the broken gates, killing all we could find. The fighting proved surprisingly intense, due to the fact that there were close to three thousand in the base, and a returning envoy distracted our IFVs. At some point, it devolved into barrack-to-barrack sweeps, almost entirely in hand to hand.

My group was pinned down by sixty or so males that had managed to run to the armory and went to defend their barracks. They took shots at us from one of the rooms, while we laid suppressing fire from the hallway. We were low on ammunition, however. So, we did what Gorkhas do.

Six of us, myself included, crept out of the building while the rest continued to lay suppressing fire, then we came in through the windows, khukuris drawn. At that moment, the rest of us charged in with our khukuris.

The hand to hand fighting favored us greatly. Race males are small and weak, with no training on what to do if the enemy is too close to use a gun. The Hallessi are even weaker. Rabotevs, however...

 _He pulls down his shirt, revealing a trio of long white scars in his dark skin, trailing down his chest.  
_  
They are strong for their size. I have learned that despite being more primitive than even the Hallessi when they were conquered, they still managed to kill hundreds of Race males, while the Hallessi only killed a few dozen. I am unsurprised.

It still did not save them. All of the males lost their lives, while we only lost six.

 **Q: After the base was taken out, what did you do?  
**  
A: We took whatever equipment we could, and destroyed what we couldn't. We piled the bodies in the center, leaving their heads on pikes for their comrades to see, to let them know that it was the Gorkhas that had killed them. We were already at the extraction point when the remains were discovered.

The other operations were a success as well. The Race lost four bases that night, and their invasion upwards was delayed. We lost nearly eighty Gorkhas in the fight. After that, the Race made us 'priority targets'. If an Indian army regular surrendered to the Race, he was to be spared and brought to a POW camp. If a Gorkha surrendered, he was to be shot.

We were undeterred, for we never surrendered. _Kafar Hunu Bhanda Marnu Ramro._ It is better to die than live a coward.

 _For the first time in our interview, a proud look crosses his face._

Many of us Gorkhas died in that war, but no Gorkha was a coward.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **From the Journal of Shistvan, dated December 5th, 2020**

 _It hasn't been easy for us, trying to fill the whole Ttish left after he became paint on the road. Everyone was chafing under Psanak when he was put in command, saying that he wasn't qualified. I was with them on that; Psanak was always the distant, quiet type, never really imposing himself on the others. We all said behind his back it was because he was Hallessi, which meant he couldn't be compromised by the Spice. I think we were all offended by that, since none of us are tasters. I mean, Ristov had a close call when he decided to sample a stew he found, but he managed to wean himself off._

 _I'm digressing again. I've been doing that a lot in these entries. I think, deep down, its because I know I'm probably going to die soon, and I want to immortalize as much of myself as I can in these pages. I want whoever reads this to know that I like to click my big right toe claw when I'm nervous, because no one else is going to._

 _Back to it. Right. This continent's been less punishing than what I've heard in the other places. Weather's not too bad; if I squint hard enough, it feels like Home. The biggest not-empire down south has fallen, and the forces are sweeping up north with the other landing. We met up with the force in Bangui yesterday, and together we've been taking the heart of the landmass. I think half of it is under our control, now._

 _This morning, we started rolling into a region a few hundred miles from the city that one of the landings was destroyed. I think the Tosevites here call the region Dār Fūr. Mostly a few small towns and lots of villages, but that's not why I'm writing about it._

 _Our group was sent to quickly take a small village. Just us in two landcruisers. Can't spare the malepower, not when there's so much territory to take. After that old Tosevite, I was nervous of whatever surprises were waiting for us in such an innocuous place._

 _There was no resistance when we trudged into the village and demanded their surrender. There was almost nobody **to** resist us._

 _There was a pile of bodies near the village's well. Emperor preserve me, the **smell**. These Big Uglies don't just look bad, but their corpses produce such a horrific stench. There were clouds of flies hovering over the bodies, and it was obvious that they'd been rotting for some time, staining the place with unmentionable secretions. I coughed my morning rations onto a bush when I came across them._

 _There were maybe twenty people in the village, out of close to a hundred. No adult males, just females and their not-hatchlings. Many of them looked as though they had been beaten and cut. Some of the not-hatchlings had blood between their legs. They all came towards us, many of them weeping and wailing in those unnatural Tosevite voices. Some of the females tried to pull at my hands, whimpering something in their tongue, and I had to back away._

 _Ristov knew their language, and he started asking them some questions. I just walked around the village as he talked with them, looking at the devastation._

 _There was a not-hatchling sitting on a rock. I don't know what sex it was. All I saw was that it had no legs. Not blasted off, but roughly cut off, as though someone had taken a dull blade and started hacking away. Despite being naked, there was cloth tied around the stumps, probably to stop the bleeding. I didn't want to see the bloody mess between its legs._

 _The not-hatchling didn't seem to register me. It just looked at its stumps, just... just staring. Staring. I'm not even sure its alien eyes were taking in the sight._

 _I had some first-aid supplies on me, and I started wrapping a bandage around the stumps. The not-hatchling didn't react when I wiped at the wounds, or when I put on the last of the bandages. It just kept on staring, even as I carried it back to the other Tosevites._

 _Ristov had gotten the full story by then. There was some group of Tosevites that didn't like the villagers' type of Tosevite. Something about skin maybe, or the type of giant Big Ugly they believed in. Well, the group had come to the village just yesterday, and done what they'd been doing to other villages for years. They killed the males, and brutalized the females of all ages, forcibly mating with them. Some had their mating organs mutilated with knives, or pierced with hot needles._

 _I still don't know why these Big Uglies are so obsessed with mating, but I didn't need to understand that to be horrified at what the others had done. If I was put in heat against my will, whenever someone desired..._

 _Psanok was silent during all of this. Then, when Ristov finished, he ordered us to give spare rations and first-aid to the village. He had Ristov ask where the group had gone, and when he got an answer, he had one landcruiser stay behind, then had us roll with him towards the east._

 _It maybe took us six hours to find them. They were just sitting at at a little campfire; they didn't give us a fight when we rolled up and held them at gunpoint._

 _Ristov asked them about the village. One of them actually laughed at first. Laughed, like what he did was just some amusement. I didn't understand what they told Ristov, but I didn't need to here their case. I think we'd all made up our minds at that point._

 _Psanok gave them shovels, and made them dig. They were confused at first, and one tried to one before I put a round in the back of his head. Then Psanok told them to dig again, and said that they'd be brought back to a POW camp if they complied._

 _They dug for hours, fear in their eyes, that strange Tosevite skin secretion soaking their clothes. They looked on the verge of collapse when they finished, Tosev still shining brightly above them._

 _Then Psanok had us shoot them, and roll their bodies into the holes._

 _We were silent when we rode back to the village. Psanok just stared ahead, looking at the horizon. When we finally arrived, Ristov told the villagers of what we'd done, and they wept again, trying to gift us what meager scraps they had. We didn't take them, and we handed out more rations._

 _This night, as we set up camp with the villagers, we didn't make a single joke about Psanok. I don't think any of us doubt him as a leader, now._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jeong I**

 _Jeong Tae-sik invites me to his apartment in Wonsan, where he lives with his wife and two children. I am served a delicious homemade meal of some kimchi and chicken katsu, which is downed by surprisingly good beer. After sending his children to bed, he sits down with me in the study, and the interview can start in earnest.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you very much for the meal. I hope it isn't imprudent to begin the questioning.  
**  
A: It is not.

 **Q: Very well. Let's start with your situation before the war. Is it true that you were a political prisoner in the former DPRK?  
**  
A: Of a sort. It was my father who caught the attention of the authorities. He used to smuggle media, you see. Movies, television shows, things that the South secretly gave out in hopes of weakening the regime. My father would get the media from contacts, and sell them to people for sums that might seem meager to you, but where very useful for us. There was a considerable market, after all; many people were curious about life beyond the borders, regardless of what the ruling party said.

Well, eventually he got caught, and was arrested on account of spreading "Western propaganda and lies". And since he was arrested, his parents, his wife, and his children were also arrested, and sent to a _kwalliso.  
_  
 **Q: Which one were you sent to?  
**  
A: Kae'chôn. Less than fifty miles from Pyongyang. We and fifteen thousand others were living in an area of a hundred and fifty five square kilometers. Er, around the size of your Brooklyn, I think. Maybe. It is not important.

I was separated from my parents, and forced to live with the other children in a crowded, filthy barrack. In the morning, I was sent to a school in the prison, I was fed more lies to try and 're-educate' me. When school ended, I was forced to work in the mines alongside my parents with poorly-made tools. Many people suffered accidents, as there were no safety measures to speak of. The stone would scrape and cut our skin, and we would get infections, as the guards refused to waste medicine on us.

The rations were small. A hundred grams of corn a day, with salt stew. We would try and catch rats and insects and frogs to eat, but even then we needed permission from the guards.

My father lost a hand in an accident, but was still forced to work. I watched my mother grow thin, to where her clothes barely stayed on.

 _He closes his eyes, clearly pained by these memories.  
_  
I was eight during this time. I was nine when the landing in Hamhung happened.

 **Q: What was the air in the camp during this time?  
**  
A: We were afraid. Not necessarily of the invaders, but of what the guards would do as a result of the invasion. Would we be considered liabilities and executed? Or were we to be given guns and sent to the front lines as cannon fodder?

The loudspeakers continued to blare propaganda, to try and hide the truth. "Loyal soldiers of the Supreme Leader have repulsed the Alien Devils in Hamhung with no casualties!" "Supreme Leader takes charge of counter-offensive against Alien Devils, and singlehandedly destroys them!"

They were still blaring that when killercraft began flying over the camp, shooting our pilots out of the sky. They kept at it when the guards left three days after the landing, and Race landcruisers smashed through the gates on the fourth day.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: The Race were wary of us. Apparently, many citizens who bought into what they were told began resistance in occupied areas. Of course, there's only so much a fanatic with a rock can do against a landcruiser. That didn't make the Race any less uneasy. They were constantly ready to shoot us, if we gave any sign that we were going to rapidly attack them, singing praises for the Supreme Leader.

When they saw our conditions, however, I think they connected the dots, as they began to ease up. They declared that we were no longer subjects of the Supreme Leader, but of their Emperor. We didn't care; we were simply happy that they stopped making us mine and started giving us food. Race rations are very salty, and simultaneously sour. It felt like the best meal I'd ever had.

It was two days after that when we saw the mushroom cloud rising over the hills.

 **Q: That was the Korean initiation against the offensive north of Pyongyang, correct?  
**  
A: Yes. They buried a small fission bomb and let some Race forces roll over it before it blew. The troopmales in the camp began evacuating us to avoid the fallout, directing us towards occupied territory in Hamhung. Still, we were close enough to see the cloud rising over Pyongyang itself...

With how swiftly everything was being turned on its head, I could not help but feel that the world was ending, coming apart at the seams. Everything that should be was not.

 _He sits up a little, and offers a dry smile.  
_  
I suppose I was right, in a way.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Harpanet III**

 _Harpanet rolls around a bit more in the mud as the interview continues. I can see a large scar on his shoulder, and he notices where my gaze has fallen.  
_  
A: In due time. There is still much more, is there not?

 **Q: Yes. I suppose that the next thing I want to ask you about was the destruction of Pyongyang. Your old herd detected it, did they not?  
**  
A: We did. It was some low-ranking defense-commander who detected the flash on that small peninsula. Naturally, he alerted the Herdmaster as soon as it became apparent what caused the light.

 **Q: What was the response?**

A: There was much tension aboard _Message Bearer_ as the information trickled down to us. This detonation, you see, was very unexpected. We did not fathom that both parties would be willing to soil the gardens of Winterhome in their struggle.

From what I heard, the Herdmaster convened his advisors to discuss what to do regarding the news. We lower-decks fithp also discussed what had happened. Were the Winterhome and Outsider fithp going to destroy Winterhome in their war? We were going to have to make our home in the asteroid belt?

Eventually, the Herdmaster gave us our orders.

 **Q: Which were?**

A: Time was now of the essence. We could not wait for the two herds to weaken each other, as Winterhome could become a radioactive ruin before then. We were to invade ahead of schedule, and secure Winterhome before it became a glowing mudball.

 **Q: And the Foot?**

 _Harpanet pauses, spraying himself with some mud._

A: If the two herds continued to resist us, as some of us feared, then we could simply pull back and let the Foot make its landing. Of course, that was a worst-case scenario.

 _Harpanet stirs the mud with his trunk, staring at something beyond it._

Worst-case scenario...

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Hakmon I**

 _Zivah Miller, nee Hakmon, now lives in New York City with her husband George. A rather tall and lithe figure, she agrees to interview me via computer, citing a busy schedule.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for making the time for this interview. Let's make this quick. Back during the war, you were a private in the IDF, yes?  
**  
A: Yes. When the Conquest Fleet was discovered, I was recalled back into service, as was everyone else. Part of it was because of the need to prepare for a potential invasion, and part of it was due to rising tensions amongst our oh-so-friendly neighbors. But most of that you can find out by reading documents from the time. May I ask what is the purpose of interviewing me?

 **Q: I'm mainly interviewing you for a personal perspective. Especially for when the ceasefire was called.  
**  
A: I see.

 _She thinks for a moment.  
_  
By early December, the Lizards had claimed almost the entire Arabian peninsula, and had linked up with their landings in Iran and Afghanistan. The region was essentially cut in half. The brass feared that we would be next on the list, and so me and a hundred thousand others were mobilized to launch a counteroffensive into occupied Iraq and Arabia. The Egyptians and Jordanians also sent men, but there was notable tension whenever we met up. Even after we sent planes to help liberate Cairo, relations weren't exactly friendly.

Things weren't looking good when I arrived at the front lines. Altogether, there were three and a half million troopmales in the Middle East. The Saudi army was disorganized due to the capture for Riyadh, and was desperately linking up with the reinforcements from Syria and Iraq. Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan couldn't help us; they were reeling from the captures of their capitols, and focused solely and repelling the invasions in their own territory. The Russians were sending a hundred thousand men to Afghanistan, but that wouldn't be of any help to us.

Still, we fought against the invaders, refusing to let them take ground without bloodshed. For about three days, me and a few hundred others were in a small town along the Tigris, trying to push the Lizards out. They were undisciplined, especially for urban combat, but they had numbers and logistics. Our supply train was in rough shape, being stretched so thin, and the occasional bombing run by their killercraft didn't make things easier.

We made headway when Egyptian and Kurdish forces came into the town, backed up by some remnants of the Saudi army. Then, we started pushing them back to the banks of the Tigris, forcing them out house by house.

 _She turns her head, letting me see a faint scar on her ear.  
_  
I lost a chunk of it while peering around a corner. The Lizards are small; it means they have more places to hide in, and its not good to have to look down at an enemy who can shoot at you.

 **Q: Were you still in the city when Pyongyang was destroyed?  
**  
A: Yes. I was resting in some small house that'd lost its roof. The family there was grateful for our arrival, even if we were Israeli, and they gave us some tea to pass the time. I was drinking it when I heard the news on the radio.

I was terrified. Suddenly, the war just cranked up to something even more lethal. I was worried of what our response to it was going to be. Would missiles just start flying back and forth? Would some countries take advantage of the situation? I imagine there were at least half a dozen missiles pointed at Tel Aviv, whether it be from Pakistan or somewhere else, and all it'd take would be for just one to fly...

Rumors started flying about what we were going to do next. "Nuclear scorched earth" came up a fair bit.

A day later, the news of the Pakistanis blowing up a Lizard army reached our ears, and then we heard that Larkana had been destroyed in retaliation. The fear grew, and there was silence in the city on both sides. I think the Lizards shared our fears, too. How far was the war going to escalate?

The fighting in the city slowly continued, as though we were both looking over our shoulders for mushroom clouds. I remember the moment the news came in. I was lying behind some rubble, laying suppressing fire at some Lizards taking cover in a restaurant, when I heard the Sergeant yell to stop shooting. There was hissing on the other side, sounding like an order as well.

The Sergeant crawled over to us, panting. "There's been a ceasefire," he was barking, as though trying to let it become real for him. "There's been a ceasefire."

I must say, it was strange, the idea of having a ceasefire between us and the Lizards. I wondered if it was a trick. After all, we hadn't exactly been on speaking terms with each other since the declaration of war.

Then I saw a Lizard emerge from the restaurant, waving a white flag he'd made from someone's robes. "The Fleetlord and your not-emperors have agreed to a ceasefire," he was saying in badly-accented Arabic.

Slowly, but surely, we all started getting up, keeping our weapons at hand. The Lizards did the same, eyeing us warily. Their officer was still waving the flag, repeating what he'd said.

That moment of quiet was surreal. Human and Race, staring at each other across a broken street. The war looked as though it was going to escalate into hellfire, and then suddenly... silence.

I think it was half an hour before we started relaxing, if only a little. A few of us started talking to each other across the street, in broken Hebrew and Arabic and Race-tongue.

 **Q: What did you talk about?  
**  
A: A bunch of Race-males asked us if we had any ginger on us. The Rabotevs and Hallessi weren't affected by the stuff, but a few asked if we had any cured meats in our part of the town; apparently they liked the flavor.

David was the first of us to cross the divide, handing over some mugs of spiced chai in exchange for a holoprojector. I had an old Switch in my pack, and I traded it to a Hallessi in exhange for some books he had on him. He taught me the right way to read the pages, and I taught him how to play Rocket League.

 **Q: The officers didn't intervene?  
**  
A: They made sure we weren't trading any information or items that could compromise us. Nothing that could be used to search the internet, no weapons, and no talking about military matters. Officers on both sides were walking the grounds, casually trying to peek at each other's positions, and making sure we weren't getting up to no good.

A lot of us on both sides were probably thinking the same thing: we could take them. We could catch them off guard, and push them back. But we didn't.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: Because if either side broke the ceasefire and took advantage, then the other side could get desperate, and the nukes could start flying again. So, we just rested up, made sure we ready for a sudden attack, and waited for what was going to happen next.

That night, we sat back on our own sides, pulling out our radios as we listened for news about the negotiations that were going to commence, waiting with bated breath. We eyed each other across the street, wondering what was going to happen next.

After all, it's not every day that history happens.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Four: Gridlock_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ttomalss**

 _Regarded by many troopmales as the best expert on human psychology, Ttomalss spends most of his time at Yale University, where he offers special elective classes in Race history and culture. It is, as he has claimed in prior interviews, the best way to bring us into the 'right culture'. What he means by that has been the subject of much controversy, in both human and Race circles._

 _He invites me into his office, which is lined with various human books and essays, ranging from psychology to history to plays. "Reading is one of the few things I have aside from work", he explains as we sit down._

 **Q: You served as the chief xenopsychologist aboard the Conquest Fleet, but much of your work was overshadowed by the more visible elements of the war. What were the specifics of your job?**

A: As a xenopsychologist, my job was study the human psyche, in order to determine how well your species would integrate into our society. Things such as reproduction and child-rearing, as well as regard for authority. I was expecting fairly easy work in that regard.

 _He swivels an eye turret towards the window._

Clearly, I was mistaken.

 **Q: I am informed that the Fleetlord had you examine the contact packages that were sent by the UN.**

A: Indeed I was. The memory of waking up to be informed of the, er, _situation_ is crystal clear, despite the fog of waking from cold-sleep. As soon as I was informed that your species had advanced in an incredibly short time-frame, I knew that I was going to deal with something outside of my expectations.

Nevertheless, I was a male of the Race, chosen for my position by the decree of the Emperor, and I was going to do my job.

I spent many hours analyzing the contact packages, trying to decipher the code that was human psychology. However, I had little to work with. It was very much like the Golden Records attached to your Voyager probes. A few greetings in various languages, along with various sounds and musical pieces, accompanied by images of various aspects of human civilization. The biggest fact that I gleamed from the packages was that your species gave live birth, and seemed to raise the young that you yourself bore.

That alone would make integration difficult; there would need to be special accommodations for your reproductive biology when it came to matters of everyday life.

The other important detail was that your species was not yet unified, much like the pre-conquest Rabotevs. I put some work into the idea of how that could be either useful or disadvantageous to conquest, but there was simply too little to work with. I did not do the bulk of my research until the start of the war.

 **Q: What did you do then?**

A: In the areas that we established beachheads in, where we could safely do orbital ferries, we began to bring some humans into orbit, along with various trinkets. A married couple from Mumbai'i, along with two young males and some injured girl from Shànghâi. They were shortly followed by three males and two females from Tehran, and an extended family from Muqdisho.

Initially, the plan was to simply have the humans mate, so we could observe the reproductive process, but there was much resistance to that idea, I realized. The girl from Shànghâi spoke some of our tongue, and broached the concept of marriage to me, in order to explain why the couple from Mumbai'i refused to mate with anyone else, even under threat of food withdrawal. Then when I tried to have her mate with members of the family from Muqdisho, she explained some more intricacies of human mating, such as how involuntary mating was considered traumatizing.

The violence that ensued when one of the males from Tehran attempted to mate with one of the Muqdisho women clearly demonstrated that to me.

I was frustrated to no end within five days of landing, when I realized just how _different_ your psychology was from the norm. Thankfully, there was another way for me to gather the data I needed.

 **Q: What?**

A: Your so-called 'internet'. Many of the humans that were brought aboard the _Hetto_ possessed devices on them that had been confiscated for research. Your so-called 'smart-phones' and other computers. I managed to convince the Fleetlord to allow my department to make trips to the surface in safe areas, in order to utilize the internet.

I first went down to Johannesburg, accompanied by the girl from Shànghâi, and gave her a computer we'd taken from a library. The shock and confusion on her face when I commanded her to find pornography was one of the more amusing sights in my life.

 **Q: So, in order to learn about us, you made some clueless Chinese girl look up... porn, because you didn't know how to use a laptop.**

A: Yes, that was my thought process at the time. I still shudder when I think of that time, forcing myself to watch your horrifically... _messy_ mating rituals. One of my assistants vomited onto the table after the first video we were shown, to the amusement of the girl. I did not blame him.

Our research into that was... short-lived. After watching a few more videos of different kinds, as provided by the computer, we then had her research childbirth and nursing, in order to learn about how children were raised. That time, it was me who vomited, after seeing the live young pushed out...

 _He shudders._

We concluded our research very swiftly, after that.

 **Q: What did you do then?**

A: We brought the girl back to the _Hetto_ , then began focusing on other elements of human psychology. We had the captured specimens share living spaces in a manner similar to how we do so on Home, in order to see how they handled it. In the meantime, we continued trying to use the internet to gather information about your cultures and psychology. I had my assistants working full-time on all the data being sent up from the ground, but it was tedious work. We had to deal with useless information, such as advertisements and gaming sites and the so-called 'memes'.

 _Ttomalss hisses._

Could you imagine, being selected to the psychologist of the most important undertaking of your species in millennia, and being forced to read such banal statements as "Will Smith is eating soybeans in my bed", accompanied by nonsensical images, or incredibly esoteric humor regarding trivialities of your culture?

Nonetheless, the memes did offer a glimpse into how chaotic and constantly-changing your cultures were, compared to my own. By the Emperor, I started finding memes about invasion itself within days. Combined with the analyses we made into the well-known fictional works, and the nonfiction essays of government and philosophy...

 **Q: Would you care to go into detail about the works you selected?**

A: Naturally. The essays were of greatest interest to us, as they plainly stated the information we were interested in. I read, among others, Plato's _The Republic_ , various works of Hobbes and Thoreau, the _Yìjīng,_ and Kôngzi's _Lúnyû,_ I actually enjoyed the latter two, and suggested to the Fleetlord that we could look to them as ideas on how to bring your cultures to within our standards.

I also researched your so-called 'pop culture', and was surprised to find that there were actual works of fiction dealing with your planet being invaded by alien civilizations. Those were... troubling. It was then that I realized that, in at least the so-called 'Western' not-empires, there would be resistance against our rule to the bitter end.

Combined with that and the... memes, and we began to realize just how _alien_ of a world we were looking at. I made sure to deliver compilations of that information to the Fleetlord whenever I could.

Unfortunately, the research began to trickle down after that.

 **Q: Why so?**

A: I often corroborated during this time with an intelligence officer named Drefsab. He was an agent on the ground, often using the computers himself in order to procure information about human technology and military capabilities. However, your planet began to catch on to what we were doing. In many of the not-empires, they began to censor or police the internet, or even shut it down completely. We had no knowledge of cyber-warfare, or how to work your computers; we could not 'hack' past the obstacles, or use our own computers to link with the internet.

By the time of the ceasefire, I was limited to observing the specimens we had captured, and interrogating them about various aspects of human culture and psychology. I still sent my reports to the Fleetlord, hoping that the knowledge I gave him would allow him to better engage in diplomacy with your world's surviving not-empires.

I was summoned by his side when the negotiations began, though I still doubt how effective my presence was, during those tense talks.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Traoré II**

 _After the meal, Traoré invites me into his study, where he offers me some sweetened fruit and more tea. He sits down at his small disc, and puts on some music as we continue our interview.  
_  
 **Q: What may be your most famous work as a translator occurred during the negotiations after the ceasefire. How exactly did that come about?  
**  
A: When the ships landed in Bangui, I realized that my home could be the next on their conquests. Unless I am mistaken, Mali's pre-discovery army numbered only seven thousand or so, and even six years was not enough to sufficiently prepare.

As a member of the UN, I could've used my clout to try and escape the incoming wave. I considered fleeing the country with my wife and son, but I knew I couldn't leave the rest of my family behind. My mother was very ill at the time, and my father-in-law was a parapalegic; we would have to leave them behind if we attempted a mad dash to an airport. And there was no way the UN would extract a translator and his twenty-three relatives in such a time of crisis, when they had much bigger issues at hand.

So, my only option was to keep my head down, and hope that I could ride out the wave, as you say.

 **Q: How did that go?  
**  
A: It kept my family safe. When the Race defeated half of the army within an hour of crossing our borders, and the other half surrendered, they rolled into the country with almost no resistance. I saw the occasional troopcarrier roll by my home, and started to see a few soldiers patrolling the streets when I went to get food. There was some looting and rioting during this time, which they suppressed with ease. I kept my head down, and I was not bothered.

The internet had been knocked out, by my UN-issued satellite phone still worked. I would make reports to my superiors about how the Race's occupation was going. Every last detail could be crucial, in one way or another, I thought.

Then, around a week after the occupation, an officer of the Race knocked on my door.

 **Q: What was the reason for his visit?  
**  
A: He said that they were doing research on translators and linguists, and had noticed that I was a prominent figure in the project to decipher their language. If I were to serve as their Fleetlord's translator, he said, then they would ensure that my family was not harmed by any riots or looters.

The day before, there had been a pressure cooker blast in the market. I'd been unhurt, but it had rattled me to the core, seeing people with mangled faces or missing limbs screaming for help. It easily could have been me, or my wife, or my brothers.

So, I agreed without a second thought.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: I was escorted to a troopcarrier, and spent the next few hours sitting uncomfortably across from some weary-looking troopmales. I struck up a conversation with them, to pass the time. They appreciated my fluency in their language, and asked me a few questions about my work on the project. One of them asked me if I had ever flown in space before, and made an amused hiss when I told him no.

Then, I arrived at their base. I was sweating when I was pulled out of the troopcarrier, frisked, and escorted to the shuttle. I walked past landcruisers, and saw killercraft taking off. There were two starships nearby, towering over everything else, and I could not help but gawk as I looked up at them.

The shuttle was much smaller than I was expecting; I found myself wondering how could something that looked no bigger than a private jet lift me into space. It was just lying on the tarmac of an abandoned airport, flanked by two killercraft.

They had to jury-rig their seatbelts to fit me when I was strapped in as the shuttle's sole passenger. The seat was very uncomfortable, and the interior was very warm. The pilot casually chatted with me, though I suppose _at_ me is more accurate. I was too busy staring at the window as we took off, almost like an usual airline flight. Then, we got higher and higher, and the killercraft flew away as they reached their operational altitudes.

I felt strange, watching the ground shrink away, then looking up to see the blackness of space. Never had I dreamed of leaving the planet, and yet, there I was.

It was funny, actually. Looking down my home planet, I could see no sign of the war raging across the globe. Despite the enormity of the endeavor for Man, it mattered nothing to mother Earth herself.

 **Q: What happened after you docked with the _Hetto?  
_**  
A: Adapting to weightlessness was not easy. I nearly broke my nose when I pushed off from my seat, prompting some hissing laughter from the pilot. A few guards entered the shuttle, and pulled me along through the ship. I remember staring at every last _alien_ detail of their ship, from the panelling on the hallways to the color of their lights. I could actually read the signs on the doors as well. _Reactor Chamber_ and _Mess Hall_ caught my eye as I was brought to the bridge of the flagship.

It was a spurious moment, when I was brought face-to-face with Fleetlord Atvar. There he was, the one in charge of the entire invasion, regarding me from across the bridge. There were armed guards in the room, as well as technicians operating holographic panels. In the middle of the room was a hologram of Earth, with patches of it colored in purple.

 **Q: Purple?  
**  
A: Well, I suppose red would have been more fitting for me, as they were invaders. But to them, that was not the case.

 **Q: Did the Fleetlord speak with you?  
**  
A: Yes, he did. He first asked me if I was actually fluent, and looked rather satisfied when I replied in his tongue. He then asked me how many human languages I knew. He was surprised when I told him that I was fluent in nine. I was then directed to a communications station, where there were three other translators. One of them I recognized from the project, but we didn't dare acknowledge each other, out of fear of being seen as conspirators.

A technician sat beside me, in order to operate the equipment that I would be speaking into. Not so much due to a lack of ability, as the equipment was rather user-friendly, but I didn't have any claws to operate it with.

I was first instructed to make a broadcast to various countries whose national language I could speak, in order to inform them that the Race intended to engage in negotiations.

 **Q: And then?  
**  
A: Well... the negotiations began.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Teerts I**

 _Unlike many Race males living in the United States, Teerts owns an apartment in Los Angeles, where he makes a living as a stunt pilot for air shows. He shares his apartment with his friend, fellow pilot Alice Perry, who greets me at the door. Teerts offers me a seat as he pauses his soccer game, and we start our interview._

 **Q: Flight Leader Teerts, you were one of the first Race males to be taken prisoner in the war. How exactly did you end up in American custody?**

A: I was deployed to the Chinese theater of the war during the first days of the invasion. I was actually rather anxious when I was deployed; I could not wait to start tearing apart whatever primitive aircraft was sent my way.

 _He hisses in mirth.  
_  
In retrospect, that was the wrong feeling to have.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: Chinese stealth fighters.

 _He mimes a plane flying by, accompanied by a surprisingly-accurate sound of missiles being launched.  
_  
Chengdu J-20s, I think. Didn't get a good look at them before they blew up my wingmales. I was understandably freaked out by the idea of Tosevite killercraft that was invisible to our radar. Started wondering if there were secretly a hundred of them trailing after me. When I saw a starship go down, and the others started retreating back up, I panicked.

So, I booked it. Put on my afterburners, and started flying away from the crazy not-empire with its ghostkillercraft. A few started chasing after me, but I had a head-start. Still didn't keep a few bullets from getting in my engines.

I ended up ejecting over the sea. Now, I'm not sure about you, but if you've never even swam in the little salt lakes back Home, and suddenly find yourself surrounded by nothing but water... it's a terrifying, alien experience. Part of you starts making up beffel-pellet that you know isn't right, but it's still freaking out, and eventually the animal brain takes over.

I was lucky. A destroyer fished me out of the sea, hissing and thrashing like a tsiongi, and I was taken into custody by the _Nihonjin._ I was astonished by the concept of warboats, once I stopped shrieking.

I wasn't in Nihon long enough to see anything, before I was transferred to their buddies in the US. Felt strange, being ferried in a C-130. The Tosevite guards looked like they had better gear than the troopmales, with all that body armor and high-tech trinkets.

Anyway, I ended up falling asleep, and woke up in a base in Nevada. The Tosevites were making jokes about me being there, but I didn't get it. "Looks like there's aliens in Area 51 after all, hurr durr hurr." Your laughter's hideous, even after all these years, but it was terrifying back then.

 **Q: What was your time on the base like?  
**  
A: Questions. Lots and lots of questions. They started with boring but important stuff, first. "What can you safely eat, do you need any special accommodations for your biology, ssa ssa." Then they started asking me questions about military matters. How many of me are there, how many weapons did we have, and other stuff. When they realized that I didn't have much to say on that they started asking me about killercraft.

 **Q: What exactly did they want to know?  
**  
A: They wanted to know about the hydrogen engines. Apparently, they'd managed to dredge up the remains of my killercraft, and were curious about how we didn't need to use petroleum or other fossil fuels for it.

I couldn't tell them much. I was a pilot, not an engineer. Eventually, more males started showing up in the base, and we were allowed to mingle with each other. I guess they found some who knew more, or were more willing to talk, because the questioning stopped after the first few dozen showed up.

All in all, it could've been worse. I was constantly afraid they were going to do something like put out my eye, or start twisting my claws off. I actually started gaining weight from how rich your food was.

All I did for a few weeks was eat, watch some pro-human movies in the rec room, and exercise behind barbed wire fences. Some Tosevite taught a male about soccer, and we got the hang of it pretty fast. I started looking forward to the games we held between each other. Sometimes we'd do Rabotevs vs Race, or Race vs Hallessi, and sometimes landcruiser crews vs troopmales.

Didn't get much news during that time. I kept wondering if landcruisers would suddenly smash through the gates and announce that the planet had surrendered, or if some soldier was going to announce that the Fleetlord had called it quits.

When the negotiations began, we were allowed to listen on the radio to the talks. I was anxious for the resolution. On one hand, it'd be nice if the not-empires surrendered, and I could get out of captivity. On the other... I was afraid that I'd be thrown right back into a meatgrinder if things didn't work out.

 _He hisses again.  
_  
Didn't expect what actually happened.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **du Joncherè I**

 _Anne-Sophie du Jonchère agrees to meet me in the Louvre, near the Mona Lisa exhibit. A tall and thin figure, her blonde hair is worn in a tight bun, showing only a few streaks of grey, and her blue eyes regard me intelligently past a pair of wireframe glasses. After exchanging greetings, we walk slowly walk around the museum as I ask my questions.  
_  
 **Q: The ceasefire of December 7th is often regarded as a watershed moment during the war, and one that you directly participated in. Could you offer any insight into public perceptions during that time?  
**  
A: It came as a shock to almost everyone. When the ships came down, and the war began, negotiations had left our minds. I think it is the non-humanity of our enemy, and the fact that they were wholly outside of our normal view of everyday life, that made negotiation so unthinkable. This was not two countries fighting over a territorial dispute, or one invading another for oil. This was humanity, all of humanity, fighting for its independence against an alien foe from a distant star.

It was easy to think of them as some sort of monolithic, malevolent force, especially where I was in New York. The war was so distant at the time; some rather uncouth people I knew snidely called it the Third World War. Not just because of the fact that it was a global conflict, but because almost all of it was taking place in third-world nations. The Americans have always struggled with showing concern for the peoples of Africa and the Middle-East, and an alien invasion did little to change that perception.

Yet, at the same time, it still affected many people. There were many with friends and family in the affected countries, and with the internet, we had a glimpse into the war that would not have been possible, even twenty years ago. People were scared of what was going to happen next, if the aliens were going to come to their country. When they read the news, or saw the reports on the television as Africa was almost completely swallowed up, and the Middle-East overrun, they were scared. I felt scared. The front lines in Northern Africa were less than two thousand kilometers from the borders of France, within the range of their killercraft. If they wanted, they could have bombed the home of my family, even if such an attack was unlikely to succeed.

That fear only got worse when Pyongyang and Larkana were swallowed in nuclear fire. Suddenly, the fear of the Cold War had returned, to terrorize the younger generations who had never felt it. I called my family in France, as though I was afraid that they would be suddenly engulfed in an atomic exchange.

So, the ceasefire came as a collective sigh of relief for the world at large. The serpent of war had relaxed his coils around us, and we could breathe freely again.

 **Q: Was that when you were called into the UN Special Assembly to represent your nation?  
**  
A: _Oui._ I was summoned to the UN building, and quietly ushered into an armored room that had been built into the lower levels. I was struck by how few other representatives there were.

 **Q: Why was that? Hadn't several countries set up governments in exile?  
**  
A: They had, but I was informed that the Race was only interested in speaking with certain countries. The rest could listen in from the general assembly room, but could not participate.

 **Q: That easily could have soured relations.  
**  
A: Yes, but it was agreed that it was worth securing peace, and avoiding nuclear war. The representatives knew that, even if they were unhappy with it.

So, I sat down at the table, feeling more out of my depth than I had ever felt before. Half an hour passed, then I received the shock of a lifetime when the doors opened.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: A male of the Race had entered the room, flanked by our security guards. He was unarmed, and unclothed. The only thing he had was a black box with a lens on it, which he set down on the table. I was too busy staring at him to really hear what he was saying. It was the first time I had seen one in the flesh. He was much smaller than I expected, almost like a... a child. He made me think of a child wearing an elaborate costume. I had to keep from laughing when he hopped onto the seat and scooted his chair over, with his little legs dangling.

He said in very poor English that he was Pshing, a low-level male, sent by the Fleetlord to physically represent the Race at the meeting. I am still convinced that it was some sort of power-play, to show how little regard the Race had for us, when they couldn't be bothered to learn our language and sent the equivalent of a secretary to speak with us.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: He flicked a button on the box, and there was suddenly a hologram of the Fleetlord in the middle of the room. _Mon Dieu,_ the detail was almost perfect. Another power-play, I think.

The Fleetlord spoke in those hideous hisses and clicks, and I heard a man's voice in my headphones, acting as a translator. He said some long and boring title along the lines of "Presenting the Fleetlord, as ordained by some long-dead Emperor of the true culture...", and then the talks began.

I must credit the poor soul who had to serve as the Fleetlord's translator, as he was very tactful. Believe me, as a Frenchwoman; I could hear the snootiness and disdain in that Napoleon of a chameleon's voice. "We deign to speak to the divided not-empires of Tosev Three that have not yet joined the Race", and so on.

 **Q: What were the first point of the negotiations?  
**  
A: That the Race did not desire nuclear war with us, citing that it would only result in pointless death and render the planet unsuitable. He established that the Race would only use its atomic arsenal as a "tit-for-tat" deal. That is to say, if we nuked two Race bases, then they would nuke two of our cities, but stop at two. There would be no escalation on his side, if there was no escalation on our side.

 **Q: Essentially, it was MAD.  
**  
A: The United States and the Russians disagreed. They warned the Race that, if any more cities were destroyed, they would launch ICBMs at the fleet in orbit until every last ship was radioactive dust.

The look on the Fleetlord's face showed us that he realized they weren't bluffing. It was telling that his reply wasn't "I don't believe your primitive species can do it," but "Such an attack would also destroy your satellites and induce Kessler syndrome".

 **Q: Kessler syndrome?  
**  
A: It's, uh, when enough things get destroyed in space, that all the debris would destroy more satellites like some kind of domino effect. I've been told that a paint fleck once damaged a Space Shuttle's window, since everything moves faster than bullets there. Maybe. I'm not a scientist; I just researched it after the meeting. The point is, the debris would have made space travel impossible for decades. Which, when there was another enemy ship coming, could be a death knell.

I should've been suspicious when the American representative didn't seem fazed by that threat. I thought it was typical American bravado at the time...

Uh, moving on. The Fleetlord had decided to move on from the nuclear debate, and laid out some facts. Chiefly, that more than a billion people were in Race-occupied territory, that nearly forty countries had surrendered or been conquered, and that they had plenty of more manpower to spare. He was essentially showing off his little chameleon muscles. He naturally didn't mention how the Russians had easily kicked them out of Mongolia, or how they had been slaughtered at Cairo.

 **Q: What were the responses?  
**  
A: I said that the French were not one of the countries under their rule, and never would be. As did the other EU nations. The Americans and Russians made mention of the starships they had destroyed, and the Chinese representative pointed out how there were more people in his one country than there were in the continent the Race had almost completely conquered.

I must admit, it felt good, thumbing my nose at the leader of the army that was trying to take our planet away. Of course, we did it in a rather gentle fashion. We could not be submissive at all, as that would show weakness, but too much hostility could have caused him to cease negotiations. We were almost like a bunch of middle-aged housewives, passive-aggressively sniping at each other.

Then, the debate got interesting.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: The Fleetlord began pulling up... images, that his soldiers had taken. The genocide in Darfur. The starvation in the slums of Mumbai and Mogadishu. He showed pictures of Afghan village women joyously taking off their burqas after being freed from the oppression of their government and the Taliban. He showed us the brutality of the North Korean camps, along with some sick _merde_ that only some top-level intelligence officers had probably known beforehand, if that. I honestly felt nauseated, as he pulled up picture after picture after picture, telling us the stories behind each and every last one of them.

He went on a diatribe, claiming that witnessing Man's inhumanity to Man had only solidified his desire to secure the planet. He said that we, as a collective of disjoined and broken cultures, were unfit to rule ourselves. He said that there was no genocide amongst the Race. No racism, no sexism, no homophobia, or religious intolerance. No rapes, no drug trades, no disenfranchisement. He spoke of how his soldiers had ended the genocides, and were now pulling the disenfranchised to their feet.

It was a surprisingly well-put argument. While I opposed their imperialism and cultural destruction, I must admit... the idea of a society where I could walk without being harassed, or where my husband didn't get pulled over by the police because of his skin color... it was a pleasant thought.

The Russian ambassador was quick to call him out on the whole "Lizard-man's burden" angle he was coming from, and the Chinese representative retorted that safe streets were not worth the destruction of everything that made us human.

Of course, all of these arguments were semantics, really. They had not contacted us for a philosophical debate on our worthiness to rule ourselves.

 **Q: What was the main point of the negotiations, on the Race's behalf?  
**  
A: The Fleetlord made an offer to us, though I'd say he made an offer to the Americans and Russians. He would not invade them, or their allies, which included my own country. He would not invade any other countries. In exchange, we would not launch counteroffensives against the Race, and let them fully cement their hold on the nations they had invaded already.

There were other, smaller points. The return of all prisoners, and a ban on research into Race technologies, along with restrictions on the trade of ginger. Meanwhile the Race would allow the conquered peoples to keep their internet access, and would allow the UN to send inspectors to ensure there were no abuses in occupied territory.

 **Q: I imagine the response was less-than-stellar.  
**  
A: _Smiling broadly_ Oh, and from so many directions! The Chinese president spat that such an agreement would entail China having no allies in its attempts to drive the Race out. He not-so-subtly implied to the others that he'd ensure we went down with his country in that scenario if it was just suddenly left out to dry.

I and several other EU representatives stated that the Race was occupying countries we had agreed to protect, chiefly our former African colonies, and that we wouldn't even begin to consider such an agreement until those nations were granted back their independence.

The American President demanded that the Race leave Brazil, due to its mutual defense pact with America, and also spoke of the other incoming ship. He showed the Fleetlord the Cassini images, much to everyone else's chagrin, and called for the Race to instead ally itself with all of Earth against the incoming ship, pointing out that it was moving awfully slow for something with a fusion drive.

Then, he shocked the Fleetlord by saying that they would protect the Colonization Fleet if the alliance was made.

 **Q: But the Fleet was twenty years away at the time.**

NATO had already learned of the Fleet's existence from its prisoners by then. The American and Russian Presidents decided to use that as a bargaining chip, pointing out that the other ship could pose a direct threat in twenty years' time.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: The Fleetlord declared that he would review the points we'd made, and would hold another session the next day, at the same hour. Then the hologram disappeared, and Pshing was escorted out by the guards.

I was frustrated at the lack of progress we had made. But, at the same time, I was relieved. He said he would continue the talks tomorrow, which meant the ceasefire was going to last at least another day. Every day we spent in the ceasefire, was another day everyone could get a breather, move troops around, and get ready for when the other ship arrived.

 _We stop at a display showing off various pieces of clay, with writing etched into its surface.  
_  
This is a Hittite copy of its treaty with Ancient Egypt. In fact, this is the oldest known peace treaty, both by human and Race standards. That's one thing we have that's older than them. Almost everything before their Empire was thrown to the dustbin of history, and with it they lost a lot of things. They had almost no knowledge of treaties, or diplomacy. They were unused to have to speaking with someone as an equal, and not someone to just conquer and make their own.

 _She smiles at the fragments.  
_  
But they were going to have to learn.

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Five: Negotiations_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Teerts I**

 _Unlike many Race males living in the United States, Teerts owns an apartment in Los Angeles, where he makes a living as a stunt pilot for air shows. He shares his apartment with his friend, fellow pilot Alice Perry, who greets me at the door. Teerts offers me a seat as he pauses his soccer game, and we start our interview._

 **Q: Flight Leader Teerts, you were one of the first Race males to be taken prisoner in the war. How exactly did you end up in American custody?**

A: I was deployed to the Chinese theater of the war during the first days of the invasion. I was actually rather anxious when I was deployed; I could not wait to start tearing apart whatever primitive aircraft was sent my way.

 _He hisses in mirth.  
_  
In retrospect, that was the wrong feeling to have.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: Chinese stealth fighters.

 _He mimes a plane flying by, accompanied by a surprisingly-accurate sound of missiles being launched.  
_  
Chengdu J-20s, I think. Didn't get a good look at them before they blew up my wingmales. I was understandably freaked out by the idea of Tosevite killercraft that was invisible to our radar. Started wondering if there were secretly a hundred of them trailing after me. When I saw a starship go down, and the others started retreating back up, I panicked.

So, I booked it. Put on my afterburners, and started flying away from the crazy not-empire with its ghostkillercraft. A few started chasing after me, but I had a head-start. Still didn't keep a few bullets from getting in my engines.

I ended up ejecting over the sea. Now, I'm not sure about you, but if you've never even swam in the little salt lakes back Home, and suddenly find yourself surrounded by nothing but water... it's a terrifying, alien experience. Part of you starts making up beffel-pellet that you know isn't right, but it's still freaking out, and eventually the animal brain takes over.

I was lucky. A destroyer fished me out of the sea, hissing and thrashing like a tsiongi, and I was taken into custody by the _Nihonjin._ I was astonished by the concept of warboats, once I stopped shrieking.

I wasn't in Nihon long enough to see anything, before I was transferred to their buddies in the US. Felt strange, being ferried in a C-130. The Tosevite guards looked like they had better gear than the troopmales, with all that body armor and high-tech trinkets.

Anyway, I ended up falling asleep, and woke up in a base in Nevada. The Tosevites were making jokes about me being there, but I didn't get it. "Looks like there's aliens in Area 51 after all, hurr durr hurr." Your laughter's hideous, even after all these years, but it was terrifying back then.

 **Q: What was your time on the base like?  
**  
A: Questions. Lots and lots of questions. They started with boring but important stuff, first. "What can you safely eat, do you need any special accommodations for your biology, ssa ssa." Then they started asking me questions about military matters. How many of me are there, how many weapons did we have, and other stuff. When they realized that I didn't have much to say on that they started asking me about killercraft.

 **Q: What exactly did they want to know?  
**  
A: They wanted to know about the hydrogen engines. Apparently, they'd managed to dredge up the remains of my killercraft, and were curious about how we didn't need to use petroleum or other fossil fuels for it.

I couldn't tell them much. I was a pilot, not an engineer. Eventually, more males started showing up in the base, and we were allowed to mingle with each other. I guess they found some who knew more, or were more willing to talk, because the questioning stopped after the first few dozen showed up.

All in all, it could've been worse. I was constantly afraid they were going to do something like put out my eye, or start twisting my claws off. I actually started gaining weight from how rich your food was.

All I did for a few weeks was eat, watch some pro-human movies in the rec room, and exercise behind barbed wire fences. Some Tosevite taught a male about soccer, and we got the hang of it pretty fast. I started looking forward to the games we held between each other. Sometimes we'd do Rabotevs vs Race, or Race vs Hallessi, and sometimes landcruiser crews vs troopmales.

Didn't get much news during that time. I kept wondering if landcruisers would suddenly smash through the gates and announce that the planet had surrendered, or if some soldier was going to announce that the Fleetlord had called it quits.

When the negotiations began, we were allowed to listen on the radio to the talks. I was anxious for the resolution. On one hand, it'd be nice if the not-empires surrendered, and I could get out of captivity. On the other... I was afraid that I'd be thrown right back into a meatgrinder if things didn't work out.

 _He hisses again.  
_  
Didn't expect what actually happened.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar III**

 **Q: During the negotiations, how often did the fithp get mentioned?  
**  
A: Very rarely on my side. The Americans were the most adamant about the threat they could pose, pulling up data that their observatories had gathered on the incoming ship. When they claimed that the ship was possibly pushing an asteroid towards the planet, I dismissed it.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: Partly because I was under the impression they were trying to present false data in order to gain the upper hand in negotiations, and partly because I could not fathom the implications if they were telling the truth. I couldn't understand why an alien species coming to conquer the planet would be ready to unleash a possible extinction-level weapon.

So, I simply ignored their warnings, and focused on the other parts of the negotiations.

 **Q: Did you manage to reach any agreements during the week that the negotiations lasted for?  
**  
A: The only agreement we managed to make during that time was that we would withdraw from Brazil. On everything else, we chased each other in circles. I had underestimated the... connectedness, that the various not-empires had, despite the lack of governmental unity across the planet.

 _He points to some highlighted nations on the African continent.  
_  
For example, during our conquests we had managed to seize Côte d'Ivore, Ghana, Nijeriya, and Cameroun. During the talks, we learned that these four not-empires produced more than half of the planet's cocoa, which was a highly-prized food. The question was raised if we would honor these trade agreements, or be forced to make new ones. To that, we replied that we had ended the child slavery in the region, and effectively ended the cocoa trade there.

That angered more than a few not-empires, who now had to contend with a reduction in cocoa. That was simply _one_ of the many issues our arrival had caused with international relations. For example, the United States and the not-empire of al-Maġrib apparently had friendly relations, as al-Maġrib was the first not-empire to recognize their sovereignty. Therefore, the Americans demanded we pull out of there as well. Similar demands were made by other not-empires whose allies or trade partners had been conquered by us.

I was unwilling to agree to the demands. If I had, then I would've been forced to relinquish every not-empire, save for perhaps Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk. Er, North Korea. The matter came down to which not-empire could _force_ me to give territory up.

 **Q: Is that why negotiations were breaking down?  
**  
A: Truth. The aggression left a bad odor for everyone involved. It was likely that the war would have resumed with almost no resolution... until the fithp came.

-/-\\-

 **Yeager III**

 _Yeager pulls up several telescope-based images, with false-color filters in the infrared and x-tray.  
_  
A: The bastards showed up ahead of schedule, while we were in the middle of the talks. They were clever, deliberately using their fusion flame to hide the Foot until they were orbit around the planet. Parked themselves about eight thousand miles up, in a higher orbit than the Lizard ships.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
 _Yeager shows me an image of several bright flashes.  
_  
A: They destroyed a dozen starships in half as many minutes. I swear, the swarms of missiles on the feeds in NORAD looked like something out of some Japanese cartoon. The rest of the Lizard ships began emergency reentry burns, and landed in random parts of their captured territory. Two more were destroyed during those burns.

 **Q: Why weren't more destroyed?  
**  
A: Because the snouts were also focused on what _we_ had in the orbitals. They started taking out our satellites, especially ones that looked like they were military or communications. We'd dealt with such a possibility, and placed craploads of minisats around three years beforehand, but it was still not good to lose those. Russia and the NATO countries managed to keep the most vital of the channels, but outside... global communication ground to a screeching halt.

Once the snouts took down everyone's TV, they began the first stage of their planetary attack. All of their digit ships deployed, and began moving in quicker orbits. They began frying observation stations across the planet, starting over Asia. Once comms were down in those areas, they began the big bombardment. They hit power plants, dams, bridges, highways, power lines... However, that still left us nearly an hour to get ready, to put our asses into high gear.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
A: We got our Ow guns primed, and opened up our missile silos. The Russians did the same. We were ready to go all out on the big bitch in orbit.

I think we launched around a hundred ICMBs at the Big Mama. The Russians launched three hundred. The snouts managed to shoot down all but _five_. And the thing is, when you initiate a nuke in space, there's no air to carry a shockwave. All the damage comes from the immediate thermal energy in the blast, like if someone flashed a big lightbulb. So, instead of tearing the thing apart like a tin-can, which would've happened on the ground, we just managed to melt some armor along the flank.

Honestly, the Ow guns did more damage. The bigger rounds couldn't clear LEO, but they still could tear apart their digit-ships. We also had a few experimental Ow guns, where a laser would temporarily create a vacuum for smaller rounds to shoot faster, and those managed to actually hit the Big Mama, even if half of them were fried in the process.

All in all, we and Ivan managed to take down nine of their digit-ships, and give their mothership a few new pockmarks. Not enough to decide the war, not by a longshot, but it gave them something to think about.

 **Q: How did the fithp react?  
**  
A: They didn't bombard us like they did other countries, but we weren't entirely unscathed. We lost a CBG in the Mediterranean, and all of our naval bases in the Pacific got pulverized. Hawaii went dark. The Russkis lost parts of their Siberian refineries and railroads, but it wasn't a bad loss for them.

The rest of the world, however...

It was an hour before we managed to get any information from anyone in Asia or Africa, and the latter came solely from Race chatter we eavesdropped in on. That was when we heard scattered reports of landings in India and China.

At that moment, I knew we were in for a whole different kind of beast. The Lizards, they fought in ways similar to most countries. They had jets, they had tanks. We could fight them like we fought other countries, and beat them at it. I was expecting us to kick their asses within a year, with most of the casualties being focused in Africa and the Middle-East, and smaller than their own losses. Hell, when the talks started, I told myself I'd be surprised if they got to keep anything.

The snouts, though... they fight _smart_. They took full advantage of their position in orbit, and of their technology. No massive armies running into the meatgrinder. Just throwing rocks at the nervous systems and circulation of the planet, knowing that just about nobody could hit them back.

It was in that moment that I realized, in the words of the war's generation, shit just got _real_.

-/-\\-

 **Wallafess IV**

 _Wallafess decides to drive over to a local Chinese place known for its authenticity, and we sit down at a table. The owner is surprisingly friendly to Wallafess, all things considered, and we quickly settle in.  
_  
 **Q: I take it you grew fond of Chinese food while in Shanghai?  
**  
A: Well, it was better than eating the rations. When we managed to secure a good perimeter around the financial district, and the siege started for real, I didn't have much to do. I would take a station, firing potshots at any PLA trooper dumb enough to peek out of a foxhole or from behind a car, but there was only so much of that I could do. Half the time, I was just hankering up in the various buildings, trying not to freeze my stump off in the cold.

There were plenty of people trapped behind front lines, but most of them just kept their heads down. Sometimes, I would try to chat them up, ask them a few questions. A few were willing to talk, and sometimes they'd share their food with me in exchange for information.

Thing about zhōngguórèn, though, is they _love_ putting ginger in their food. Doesn't affect me, though I think it's rather tasty. The Race males, on the other claw, went nuts over it. They started raiding food shops and those little food vendor carts, looking for the stuff. That meant I got placed on double duty to make up for the slip in protocol my fellow troopmales were having.

Combined with the growing PLA presence, and we were getting pushed back block by block. Even the landing in Chéngdū didn't do much to lift the siege. Things were looking bad. I honestly considered surrendering, and hoping they'd take a modicum of mercy on me, instead of just shooting me dead. Better than becoming the frozen bodies that were cropping up every morning, I thought.

Then the ceasefire came, and I could breathe easy again. The commanders started cracking down on the ginger problem, and I got to be more casual with the people still trapped behind in the district with us. One even gave me a few books to read in exchange for my camera.

Too bad it was only a week.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
A: Well, I was doing a patrol around some street, when I saw some flashes up in the sky. Looked like the world's biggest lightbulbs going off. Didn't realize it was the snouts blowing up some of our ships, followed by the nuclear reprisal by the US and Russiya.

Then, I saw a few streaks in the sky. Thought it was a meteor shower at first, until I started feeling the faint rumble beneath my feet. Started connecting the dots quick enough.

Then a few of the meteors hit nearby. Took out bridges, and the bigger streets. I still remember the sight of seeing the skyscrapers sway with the impacts. We all got on high alert, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The PLA was doing the same, but they got hit harder than us, since they held most of the city. Some tried to attack us, but didn't get past our perimeter before they were called back.

I think it was two hours later that I saw them. Little silhouettes against the night sky, coming down on gliders. Vaguely, I realized that they must've been the other aliens we heard about, since they looked more like those elephant animals I saw in the city zoo before it was taken back. I started laughing when I saw the big pink shoes they were wearing.

I stopped laughing when I saw the huge guns they had.

 **Q: What was your reaction when you realized that the fithp were beginning their attack on the planet?  
**  
 _Wallafess chews on a dumpling for a few moments, savoring the taste as he thinks. Then, he swallows.  
_  
A: "Welp, I'm fucked."

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi II**

 _After finishing our tea at the café, Joshi orders a tall draught of 'Tau Ceti Slammer': a blend of German beer and Race brandy, with flavorball of ginger floating in the center. 'A drink anyone can enjoy', she jokingly calls it.  
_  
 **Q: Overall, you lived under Race occupation for nearly four weeks before the Fithp launched their attack. What was your experience during that time?  
**  
A: Once they took the city, and began spreading out to conquer more of the country, we were allowed out of Dharavi, though they still kept a close eye on us. People were allowed to go back to work for the most part, with some differences.

 **Q: Such as?  
**  
A: Schools remained closed. After all, the Race was planning on giving us _their_ education, in order to make proper citizens of the Empire out of us. From what I gathered, the protocol was to destroy any materials they considered 'subversive'. That included essays on democracy, religious works, and any cultural items that would clash with the 'true culture' they intended to bring to us.

Well, that was what they _intended_ to do, anyway.

 **Q: Why didn't they?  
**  
A: They were stretched thin, I suppose. Not to mention all of the ginger. I mean, imagine if we were to invade a planet where a common foodstuff is like magical mushrooms to us, it'd be bad to land in the place where most of the mushrooms grow. Mumbai'i was basically ginger-central.

Many people used that to their advantage during the occupation. My father became a bit of a ginger-dealer during this time, on a crusade to preserve as many works as possible. If he saw some Race males clearing out a library to burn the books, he'd offer up to a pound of the stuff in exchange for having the books put back. If he wanted to continue teaching without harassment, a vial per male every day was fine by him.

 **Q: What about the Rabotevs and Hallessi soldiers? They don't get high on ginger.  
**  
A: True, but they were a little less than half of the males present. If all of their friends were bought off, they just went with the flow. They were all so very tired by then, you see. Tired of having to patrol hostile streets, and tired of having to worry about when the next counter-offensive was coming. Even where I was, I heard them speak in hushed tones about the 'ghostmen' with curved knifes.

I saw a lot of this, working as a translator. I was being driven all over the city everyday, helping the Race establish their presence in the city. They had to manage food transport, since a major trading city went dark, and ensure they had cooperative workmen. After all, it'd be bad for the conquest if everyone train conductor refused to work, or if farmers refused to ship food into the city.

 **Q: Where were you when the Fithp attacked?  
**  
A: Helping some troopmales settle a dispute over whose cattle belonged to whom. It was evening where I was, and the weather was actually quite beautiful. No clouds in the sky, and I could see the stars.

A thing about that time was the lights in the skies. You could see the old International Space Station with the naked eye, if it was in your field of view, and the Race starships were far bigger and more numerous than that relic. I could see half a dozen of them at any time, moving across the sky, brighter than any star. Sometimes, there would even be a silhouette against the Moon.

So, I was surprised when I saw those lights flash brightly, then disappear. The males certainly where; they suddenly forgot about the whole debate, and began to call into their base, asking about what was going on. They packed me into a troopcarrier, and began to drive back to the city.

That was when the bombardment started. I couldn't see any of it, since I was in the troopcarrier, but I could certainly hear and feel it. _Boom. Boom. Boom._ It was like a steel rain, each one falling so closely after the other that it sounded more like rolling thunder than anything else.

Then I heard an impact that sounded _very_ close by. The troopcarrier swerved, and I heard them hissing in curses as we began to roll over and over. I remember hitting my head on the chair, then blacking out.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: I woke up to see a fi' standing over me. I suppose he dragged me out of the wrecked troopcarrier. At first, I thought some farmer's baby elephant had gotten lost, until I realized he was pointing a huge gun at my face. My memories are pretty hazy, due to the concussion I had gotten. I remember him pressing his foot on my chest, then being pulled up and brought towards a floating tank. I blacked out again after that.

When I woke up, I was being attended to by some young-looking white man. I was surprised to find that I was actually _floating_ , and I recall having a small panic attack over it. The man calmed me down, and told me he was a first year med student from America who'd been stuck in China when the war started. It was him who told me where we were.

 **Q: And where was that?  
**  
 _Joshi finished the rest of her Slammer in a single pull._

The _Flishithy_.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _After a while of wallowing in the mud, we climb out and wash ourselves off. I take the time while dressing to try and continue the interview, hoping that having to focus on two tasks may help pry details loose.  
_  
 **Q: What was your role aboard Digit Ship 23?  
**  
A: I was an infantry fi', part of an paratrooper octuple. I and the members of three other octuples were aboard the digit ship to serve as part of the landings in India, once it completed its bombardment run. We were one of two other digit ships instructed to perform a cursory bombardment of America, to try and test its defensive capabilities.

 **Q: Which evidently worked. What was your reaction to the US's strike?  
**  
 _Harpanet replies by sticking his truck in his mouth, pantomiming what the fithp usually do when panicked.  
_  
A: I was terrified when the first of us went down. We initially believed that any defenses used against us would consist of missiles, which our laser point defenses could simply shoot down. We were not expecting titanic guns powerful of reaching orbit. There was nothing our lasers could do against solid metal slugs.

The pilot made an emergency reentry burn, hoping to avoid the guns that way. It did not save us from a hit that tore off one of our wings. I had already been placed in the life-support sac-

 **Q: Sac?  
**  
A: It was a plastic bubble, meant to provide a short-term oxygen while we fell to Winterhome from the edge of space. It was the only thing that saved my life when the cabin was depressurized by the glancing shot. I was sucked out into the void, along with the rest. Some didn't have their life-support sac ready, and died in the vacuum. Others were perforated by shrapnel. Only I survived the fall to Winterhome.

 **Q: Where did you land?  
**  
A: Shreveport, Louisiana. I did not know the name at the time. All that I knew was that I was in the heart of enemy territory and without any support. I knew that I was hopelessly outmatched, and resolved to surrender.

 **Q: What was your experience on the ground?  
**  
A: I landed on a parked car in the downtown area, and I accidentally crumpled the hood when I did. I almost fainted when the alarm started blaring, as it only added to the alien terror I was experiencing.

It was indeed alien. I was one of the generations born aboard _Message Bearer;_ the ship was all that I knew. I had never experienced a _sky_. I had never seen a street, or a chain-link fence, or graffiti on brick walls. The smells were strange, too; there was nothing recognizable about them. Even the soil smelled different.

My descent had been watched since Digit Ship 23 was shot down. By the time I managed to climb the fence out of the parking lot and into the street, there were cars rolling up to greet me. I had never seen a car before. I didn't know if they were simply transportation, or killing machines. I saw Winterhome fithp peering at me past barricades they had set up in the street, too; I remember staring at them, and them staring back.

Armed Winterhome fithp came out of the car, pointing their weapons at me. This was when I knew to surrender. Unfortunately, when I moved to roll, one of them shot me.

 **Q: Is that where you got the scar?  
**  
A: Yes. It was not as serious an injury as it would've been for you; I suppose I could compare it to being shot with those rifles children used to hunt birds with. It was still painful, however. I remember making a pained sound as I finished rolling over, baring my belly to them.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
A: I had been taught some scraps of various Winterhome tongues, in case I needed to communicate a surrender with them. Chiefly English and Hindi. I managed to tell them that I was surrendering, and that they needed to put a foot on my chest.

They were wary of that, but eventually one of the officers did it, and I was part of your herd.

 **Q: How long did you stay there?  
**  
A: Not long. By morning, I had been secreted away in one of your military trucks, and was being transported to Cheyenne Mountain. It was there that I would become an advisor to your President, a job I have had ever since.

Of course, there is still much more to tell.

 _We finish getting dressed, and continue on our way._

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Six: Messages Born_**


	7. Chapter 7

**Igoshin II**

 _The game of chess halts for a while as Igoshin gets his lunch delivered by drone. He starts to dig into a serving of some new fusional cuisine that takes elements of Chinese and Polish cooking, and the interview continues.  
_  
 **Q: You were still stationed in Mongolia when the fithp began their attack, yes?  
**  
A: Yes. I actually saw the contrails of a few missile launches in the distance, and at the same time there was what looked like a big-ass meteor shower. We started realizing what was happening fairly quickly - except for Iosef. He thought we were blowing the yascheritsy ships up until we told him otherwise. The ground was _literally_ shaking from the bombardment, and here was Iosef going all 'Hmmm... awfully strange that we're getting an earthquake."

 **Q: How did your group react to the bombardment?  
**  
A: We glued ourselves to the radios, listening for anything. We kept on getting scattered reports; we didn't know at the time, but the slony bombardment had managed to damage towers and lines in parts of Siberia, making direct communication from Moscow almost impossible. It was like a game of telephone, but instead of "Applesauce" it was "Landings in China" that was getting all fucked up. We seriously thought for half an hour that they'd landed in Cyprus, until we realized why the fuck would they land in Cyprus.

 _He pops a pierogi in his mouth, then starts laughing.  
_  
Could you imagine just a bunch of slony in Cyprus, invading that tiny island for no reason? "Oh no, they've taken our olive oil!"

 _He settles down a bit, then clears his throat, a serious look on his face._

By dawn, we managed to get some things sorted out. Since communication was troublesome, any forces east of the divide created by the bombardment would do what the highest command in the area said, until they managed to get things fixed.

 **Q: And that was when Petrikov took command, I take it?  
**  
A: Yes. I thought we'd just be knocking pears from the trees with our dicks, waiting around the border until they fixed things, but Petrikov decided to take the initiative, the crazy bastard. I guess he didn't want to be pulling the cat's tail, waiting for the aliens to make their next move. I can see why, but none of us were happy with it.

So, Iosef bid his sugar-babuskha a tearful farewell, and we all went on the warpath to China, where the closest slony landing was.

 **Q: What did you do about the fithp's orbital superiority?  
**  
A: We drove by night, then covered our vehicles with whatever trash we could find before daylight, hoping the slony wouldn't notice with their orbital cameras. I suppose Petrikov was thinking that they'd be focused on keeping Chinese and Indian forces tied down on their own turf, and making sure the yashcheritsy stayed put.

It actually worked. We didn't get much harassment; one poor group got flattened, but that was an acceptable loss. The biggest problem was when we made it to the Chinese border.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: I suppose they were afraid we were coming to rescue the oppressed Russian minority. _Laughs._ We ended up waiting two days at the border before we could get escorted by the Chinese's own forces. They made sure we followed certain paths as we met up with the bulk of their army in that province with the spicy chicken.

 _He dips a pierogi in soy sauce, then pops it in his mouth.  
_  
I always wanted to visit China, but not like that. We got to see the devastation on the way through; roads smashed to bits, destroyed bridges... the worst was the flooding. A few dams got hit on the first day, and there was no way to evacuate before all that water smashed into a few hapless towns. I got to pass by the aftermath of one of the bigger ones being hit. Bozhe moi... all of those bodies floating in half-flooded streets... it was in the middle of winter, and it still smelled awful. I could only imagine the stench if it'd happened in the summer...

It was after crossing the border that we started getting harassed. A meteor here, some lasers to our jets over there... most of their defenses were being used to hammer the yascheritsy, but we still got our fair share of blood spilled. Trouble never comes alone, after all.

We were spread out after a while, moving in little isolated clumps that wouldn't be good targets for their meteors. We ended up grouping up with the battered Chinese forces a few dozen kilometers away from Chengdu. It was then that we learned that the Chinese leadership was coordinating with India and the Americans, planning a counterattack, and we were to play a part in it.

I didn't know what they meant by that, but I knew that my asshole was trembling with uncertainty just thinking about it.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **A Scrapbook of the War for Earth, Chapter Four. Published June 16th, 2029**

 _I saw the waters sweep their way down the valleys like the wrath of the world itself. I saw hills stripped bare of trees and soil, and an entire town washed away by the unceasing wall of water. From the hill I stood on, I could even see tiny bodies floating in the waves, carried for miles and miles down the river's course. Thousands of them, it seemed like. And it didn't appear to be slowing down at all, even though my home was more than a hundred miles away from the dam. I shuddered to imagine what would happen to the people living further out._

If there is any righteousness in this harsh universe, we will slaughter them all for the evils they have done to us.

 **\- Yáng Xiaōyù, describing the flooding caused by the fithp's destruction of the Three Gorges Dam. It is estimated that the total casualties of the flooding, compounded by the invasion slowing down government response, killed six million people and displaced another thirteen.**

 _Both we and the Tosevites seem to be at a total loss at this development. We saw some of their fighters blown of the sky by some phantom force, and the rumbling that occasionally reaches our ears seems to tell us that they are suffering the same attacks from the sky that we have._

One of the ground commanders tried another offensive yesterday, at what we assume is their main base in the Mumbai'i area. Fifteen thousand troopmales, backed by ninety killercraft and three times as many landcruisers.

No survivors. Just a green beam from the sky, followed by a steel rain that destroys everything in its shadow.

We are scared to move, fearing that they will strike us down. Some of the landcruiser crews have gone on a strange manner of mutiny, refusing to drive; they say that to do so is suicide. I cannot blame them, after seeing the wreckage of their fellow crews.

Contact with the rest of the Conquest Fleet has been sketchy at best, from what the officers have told us. A few more ships landed here, claiming that the Fleetlord had ordered an emergency total landing in all occupied areas, but we have not heard from them. For all we know, we may be one of the few surviving groups.

This limbo has been for nearly four days, but I feel it will not last. Between the frightening technology of these outsiders, and the barbarous insanity of these unnaturally advanced Tosevites, I fear that the destruction we have seen already is paltry to what shall come next.

 **\- Troopmale Ssulok, after the fithp landings in Mumbai.  
**  
 _The world has ended. Don't believe me? Just look up.  
_  
 **\- The last lines of Katagiri Tomoyuki's suicide note, two days after the fithp's orbital strikes on key parts of Japanese infrastructure.  
**  
 _You fuckers picked the wrong planet, you understand?! You really fuckin' think that a few rocks will keep us down?! It doesn't matter if you kill ten million of us; there's seven billion more waiting, and they all want you dead! You'll get a planet covered in corpses before you get slaves out of us! We'll hit ya with nukes, and if we run out, we'll get the gas, and if we run out of that too, then we'll shank ya with sticks covered in our **shit!** We're the masters of killing and conquering each other, and we're still around, still divided, so what makes you think you can do the fuckin' job?  
_  
 **\- An unidentified soldier, after being captured by fithp forces in Shanghai.  
**  
 _I wonder what the Lizard word for clusterfuck is.  
_  
 **\- An unidentified member of the Egyptian army after the Battle of Al-Jawf, four days after the fithp arrival. The battle between a disorganized Race offensive and forces from Libya and Egypt was briefly interrupted by a digit ship bombardment, before railgun fire from Sicily managed to destroy one vessel and prompted the others to retreat.  
**  
 _Winterhome must surrender before they become desperate enough to soil their own garden. If our current forces fail to roll them onto their backs, then the Foot shall do so. There is no way they will continue fighting after it falls, but we must hope that they will see sanity before it comes to such a dire tactic.  
_  
 **\- Herdmaster Pastempeh-keph, after receiving news of strange activity near the landing sites in China, four days after arrival.  
**  
 _EARTH WILL BREAK_

BEFORE WE DO

 **\- A flag illegally hung over the Golden Gate Bridge, two days after the fithp's arrival.**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Chandrasekhar I**

 _Former Indian President Sivanath Chandrasekhar is a small, portly man. He greets me in his study, bald head shining as he sits me down and sinks into his own chair. Despite his amicability during our interview, I can see the strain behind his eyes.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, President Chadrasekhar.  
**  
A: You may just call me Chandra; I haven't been a President for nearly two decades.

 **Q: Very well. Mr. Chandra, the Indian theater of the war is considered one of the largest and most vital ones, both before and after the fithp came. I imagine it must have been a very busy time for you.  
**  
A: Indeed it was! I spent almost all of it in a hidden bunker, surrounded by advisors and telephones and computers, reading reports and delegating orders. When the Race made their landings in Mumbai'i, there was great unease in the bunker as we realized just how many of them there were. When they landed in Hyderabad, it was almost a panic.

Imagine it! A major trading city was in enemy occupation. Our forces were spread out through the country, and it took time to get them at the front lines. There was an influx of refugees as people began fleeing territory closest to where the Race was approaching; that meant millions of people clogging the roads and filling up the shelters. We'd prepared for it, but there's only so much preparation we could have done.

Still, we didn't prove a pushover. Our Gorkha regiments became the bogeymen for that alien culture. When we finally got organized, and began to make coordinated strikes against them, we actually began to win back territory in places. There may have been millions of them, but there were millions of Indian soldiers, backed up by a country a billion strong.

Nevertheless, we were relieved when the ceasefire came. It gave us time to bring in more troops, and start managing the refugee crisis that had been created by their arrival.

 **Q: What was your reaction to being left out of the negotiations?  
**  
A: Furious, naturally! They came to my country and killed many of my people, and despite the fact we were pushing them back, they still didn't dare speak to us as equals. It was a sentiment shared by many, and we voiced our complaint to the negotiating nations. Thankfully, they defended us on our behalf during the talks, though I'm not sure if it really matters, considering the, er, interruption.

 _He sighs, and sinks into his chair.  
_  
Of course it was our luck that we would be invaded by both of those alien powers. I could almost hear the glass crack as our nation threatened to splinter under the attacks. The highway system had been destroyed, and half the country went without power as the lines were cut and our power plants flattened. It took us time to realize we were sending orders to phantom contigents, slaughtered by their orbital weaponry.

It took two days for the dust to clear. By then, Mumbai'i shifted hands from the Race to the fithp, and close to three quarters of our armor and aircraft in Maharashtra had been destroyed. Three quarters!

I realized that this could be the end of India as a nation. The fithp were spreading like a cancer; some advisors said it would only be a matter of weeks before they had the entire subcontinent under their control, and that was optimistic. We had reserve forces up north, many of them, but there was no way we had enough to fight off the Race and fithp in a conventional war. If a conventional defeat of the fithp was even possible, that is.

We started talking to the other major powers, and realized that they were planning a counterattack in China, and desired to coordinate the same with us. But, the tactics and weapons that would be used shocked me to the core.

It took me three days to decide. Slowly, but surely, I came to a most inescapable conclusion.

 **Q: Which was?  
**  
A: We were losing the war. We were backed up to the wall, too beaten and disoriented to use any other option. If we wished to remove the cancer that was the alien presence in our nation, and to survive as a culture, then we had to cut out the flesh around the tumor.

 _Chandra grabs a hankerchief, and wipes some sweat from his bald dome.  
_  
It was the only option left, and yet I doubt I will ever be clean of the sins I had to commit on that day.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Petrikov II**

 _Petrikov produces some reports, and idly leafs through them as he sips his tea.  
_  
A: This was going to be one of the riskiest, and largest, military operations in military history. The largest at the time, actually. Six nations were involved directly, with a combined force of five million men. Thousands of tanks and aircraft. And the deadliest weapons ever devised by Man.

 **Q: Why was such an effort needed?  
**  
A: The fithp had astonishing anti-air and anti-armor capabilities. Their lasers were accurate, long-ranged, and powerful enough to send their massive digitships into orbit. To overwhelm such forces required an overwhelming amount of missiles, more than any one nation could provide at such range. We'd depleted hundreds of ICBMs against the mothership, and we had to contend with the possibility that we needed to conserve the remainder as best as possible. The Americans had less concerns about their own stockpile, but they were also much further away; their ICMBs would be shot down by the time they could reach the targets.

At the same time, we needed to push out the yascheritsy before they managed to overcome their own shock, and start capitalizing on the chaos the slony had wreaked upon the planet. Some briefly debated actually requesting their assistance, but it was dismissed, as we feared they would take advantage of that scenario.

 _He pulls out a map of Southern and Eastern Asia.  
_  
Three primary targets. Mumbai, Chongqing, and Shanghai. Secondary targets in Suzhou, Yubei, Nashik, and Pune. Missile launches from our nearest silos and subs, and American subs that were closeby, along with launches from India, China, and, of all places, the surviving pockets of Pakistan. Once we had confirmation of initiations in the area, we were to then strike against yascheritsy territory with conventional forces in a lightning offensive, hitting them while they were still in confusion from the assault on slony territory.

 **Q: You were willing to destroy those cities?  
**  
A: Willing, yes. Did we want to? Not in the fucking slightest. We were hoping that we could take the regions back conventionally, up until two days before the operation. But in war, we don't always get what we want. For all we knew, this could have been the tipping point of the war. This could have been what decided whether or not humanity lives free, or is destroyed or brought under heel. For the sake of billions, and the future of untold numbers more, we had to sacrifice innocent lives. There were friends in those cities. Family. Loved ones.

We dropped pamphlets over some areas, in high-risk manuevers. Warnings to leave, but worded in a way that wouldn't arouse the suspicion of the slony. It was the most we could have done.

Then, a week after the landings, we launched the attack that weighs on so many hearts.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Connor I**

 _Ret. Captain Ulysses Connor lives in the half-completed Chesapeake Arcology, a towering eco-friendly structure that will house up to ten million when completed. His living space is rather small and spartan; the only source of entertainment appears to be a roll-up tablet on the kitchen table. He makes me a cup of incredibly strong coffee, but makes nothing for himself as we sit down for the interview._

Despite being only sixty-three, he looks a hundred. His skin is thin and wrinkled, drawn tight over a face that looks more like a skeleton than a living man. What little hair he has left is white and brittle-looking.

 **Q: Let me be brief, Captain. You were stationed aboard the _USS Rhode Island_ as its captain. During your nine years of service, you were in charge of twenty four Trident ballistic missiles, with a total yield of thirty megatons.  
**  
A: Yes, that is... that is correct. We were still using Trident-II missiles. Reliable... reliable weapons... range of nine thousand klicks, loaded with MIRVs each carrying eight warheads. I was proud to be a captain on that boat, to be safeguarded with the first and last line of defense in the ultimate worst case scenario. Proud...

 **Q: Captain, what did you do during the first month of the war?  
**  
A: We patrolled the waters, and stayed alert. It was determined that the Race posed no threat to us or other submarines, seeing as how powerless they were against other naval forces, so we were not ordered to go deeper and maintain a higher degree of silence. We were to keep secret... we were the card in the sleeve against them, in case everything else failed to stop them...

I… I can't say much. Much of it is still classified...

 **Q: Did your orders change when the fithp came?  
**  
A: Yes. We were ordered to enter lower depths, and we became almost completely silent. We believed that they likely couldn't detect our wakes, but we didn't take chances. We lurked in the Indian Ocean, skirting never-exceed depth. We were silent... we might as well didn't exist. We didn't communicate with other boats; we just waited for a command from higher up.

I didn't know how the war was going topside. I didn't know how many were dead... how much land was captured... we didn't even know if we were winning or losing...

 **Q: And then that order came?  
**  
A: When the order came, I followed through. I am... I am a professional soldier. I did... I did what I was ordered, because it was what... what I had to do. I fueled the missiles, prepared the codes, and... and launched.

We were to hit Mumbai and Pune. Hundreds of missiles were fired at that region, ours included.

 _For single moment, his eyes seem to mist over.  
_  
There must have... must have been millions of people still living there. Millions ran, but there were still millions in the cities.

S-silent in the bridge when we got reports of successful... successful strikes. The fithp were destroyed. So was Mumbai and Pune. Just... just gone, in flashes of light. Museums, libraries... turned to ash on hot wind. I entered the codes, and I... I destroyed a part of history. I turned the key, and I carbonized babies. I boiled the water in little children's eyes, and sloughed the fat off old women. We... we murdered millions, to save billions.

My first officer hung himself half an hour later. Many others did, or painted the walls with their brains. Days later, months, years... I'm the only surviving sub captain from that day. Everyone else couldn't bear what they had done.

 _His eyes harden, and he clenches his fist.  
_  
If I had to do it again, I would. I would do it again and again and again. But I don't lie to myself. I did an evil thing. It prevented greater evils, but that doesn't wash the blood off my hands. It doesn't make me a good man. I am an evil man, and I am evil so good men can live free.

But I hate myself for it every day.

 _Ulysses Connor committed suicide two hours after this interview._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Igoshin III**

 _After the meal, we resume our chess game. Igoshin plays with renewed fervor, and I lose in eight moves. We change to a game of weiqi, and the interview continues.  
_  
 **Q: What was the battle at Chēngdù like, during Operation Yi?  
**  
A: Fuck, tough question. Lot of stuff to cover, from top to bottom. Well, first, we had to actually get ready for the offensive. Had to check our weapons, figure out who was directing who, and all that shit. There was a disagreement over whether or not Russians working closely to Chinese divisions should get immediate combat orders from Chinese officers, if only to keep things from becoming a clusterfuck in case we got hit hard.

Petrikov agreed, but I'm sure it was just to save time. As far as many of us were concerned, it was just us versus yascheritsy. No point arguing semantics, in my opinion. I'm sure a few would disagree, but fuck em.

I have to say, the Chinese soldiers were pretty intense. I knew a smattering of their language, and the impression I got from just about all of them was that they were itching for yascherit blood. A lot of them had family or friends in the city, and didn't know if they were alive.

As a Russian, I could understand. Didn't meant I wasn't offput.

 **Q: When did the offensive start?  
**  
A: After Chongqing.

 _Igoshin grimaces.  
_  
Of course the Chinese would be the ones to play it danger close; we were less than a hundred miles away. And they didn't even tell us what was going on until ten minutes before, because they were afraid the slony or yascheritsy would find out. My asshole puckered up like a snare drum when we heard over the radio. For all I knew, my dick was going to shrivel off before I even made it to Chengdu.

As soon as we saw the flashes light up the clouds, we rolled out. I have to say, I wasn't expecting what a cluster nuclear bombardment actually sounded like. Just one big _bang_ one after the other, without most of the usual rumble. I wanted to be as far away as possible, as did everyone else.

There must've been a good two million of us, Russian and Chinese, slamming into the yascheritsy lines like a sledgehammer to the balls. I saw ground attack aircraft flying overhead like those huge flocks of birds you see in nature shows; it was like there were hundreds of them.

 _Igoshin imitates the sound of missiles launching, as well as the main gun of the Frogfoot aircraft used by Russian forces.  
_  
Bye-bye starships. By the time my squad and I even rolled into city limits, we could see dozens of wrecked landcruisers and troopcarriers littering the streets. The yascheritsy were broken up throughout the city, all wondering what the flying fuck was going on. They were freaking out over the nukes in Chongqing, I think, before we smashed into them.

Most of the time, fighting in a city takes forever. Just look at Stalingrad. But those fucking dumbass yaschertisy didn't know jack shit about how to fight in a city, especially against forces like ours. I heard they picked up on how to do it in the Middle East, but it definitely wasn't the case in Chengdu. General Winter also helped in that regard; I could see the bodies of frozen aliens everywhere, without a single scratch on them.

 **Q: Did you see combat?  
**  
A: Does a bear shit? My squad and I were clearing building after building after building like beasts, as if possessed by some kind of manic energy. Maybe it was the want to get to safety before the fallout of the destruction in Chongqing reached us, or maybe we were just baying for blood after seeing the mushroom clouds.

At one point, my gun jammed while trying to dislodge some from a corner shop, and I got shot in the chest. Five times. Thing is, yashcherit guns are tiny, like children's hunting rifles. Tiny guns for tiny hands on tiny things. And this wasn't the Patriotic War, where we didn't even have helmets; I was wearing thirty pounds of ballistic vest. Hurt like a toothpick to the dick, but I was still standing.

Next thing I knew, I was in the shop, screaming my lungs out and smashing some Rabotev's face in with my entrenchment tool. I was like some crazy caveman, stabbing and smashing with the thing to the point where it broke in half. I even picked some poor Halless up by the legs and swung him into his buddy, then beat the two of them down with a barstool.

By the time Iosef and the others came up and asked what the fuck I was up to, the shop was cleared.

 _He grins._

Igoshin: Nine. Yascherit: Zero.

Couldn't rest, though. We still kept on going, even after my ribs started creaking. It was two days before we'd finally secured the city, two battered starships retreating into orbit, and by that time I was ready to sleep on some rubble. Which I did. It was fairly comfy rubble.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: We celebrated by helping ourselves to some of the local drinks we found in bars and taverns. The civilians who'd been trapped in the city started showering us with gifts, though they definitely favored the actual Chinese soldiers. There was singing in the streets, people smashing trashcans... beautiful anarchy. I saw Iosef disappear into a public bathroom with one of those old Chinese ladies in the tracksuits.

There was a degree of... solemnity, though. The Chinese soldiers definitely partied as hard as us, but it wasn't like our kind of debauchery. They weren't going "Yeah, we kicked their asses back into orbit". They were going "millions of my countrymen are dead, and I need to forget". Ever see a middle-aged soldier and a meter maid sobbing uncontrollably as they did the dirty against the wall of a coffee shop?

 **Q: Er, no.  
**  
A: Good. I hope you don't have to see that.

 _He sighs.  
_  
It was like Mongolia again for me, really. We'd kicked their asses back into space, and killed many of them in the process... but I knew the war wasn't over. Not yet. My asshole was still trembling with uncertainty, thinking about what the aliens were going to do next.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wáng IV**

 _Wáng twists his head to the side, allowing me to better see the hideous burn scars running up his neck.  
_  
A: You are wondering how I got them. I can see it in your eyes, the way they dart at these scars when you think I'm not looking.

 **Q: How did you get them?  
**  
A: I had the misfortune of being on a hill, serving as a lookout for any activity. As we needed to hide our forces from the ships in orbit, we had to resort to more old-fashioned methods. No lights were allowed. The radio was to be used sparingly, with messengers being preferred, if possible. And, instead of relying on satellites or aircraft, we needed more lookouts on the hills. So, despite being a medic, I ended up being a lookout, due to my good eyes.

It was a most beautiful night. The hills glistened with snow, and I could see clouds rolling through the valleys that we were hiding in. Birds flew about, and the occasional snub-nosed monkey would dart from tree to tree.

That was rather thought-provoking. Those monkeys didn't know that their world was being invaded; they carried on blissfully, ignorant of the titanic struggle all around them. What would a cow grazing at pasture think when it sees the starships coming from the sky, spelling the end of an epoch in the world's history? Earth was continuing on around us, doing what it had been doing for billions of years. The tide was still coming in, the island crabs were still doing their annual migrations, the grass still grew.

Then, I realized that our struggle was not as insignificant to the world as I initially thought. If the Race or the fithp won, then they would bring their own crops, their own beasts of burden, and slowly destroy and replace the wildlife of Earth, much as they intended to do to human culture.

 **Q: What happened while you were at the lookout?**

I found myself staring at the hills where my home of Chóngqìng was. When the fithp landed in it, I grew fearful for my parents, as they were still in the city. I found myself wondering if they had been shot by those elephantine things, or killed in what must have been a great deal of rioting.

It didn't take long for me to start wondering why the birds had stopped chirping. I ended up saving my eyes when I looked to the side, wondering what was going on.

Then the first initiations lit up the sky, and I felt a searing pain. It was like the world's largest light-bulb going off, ending countless lives in a flash. The pain as my flesh burned was indescribable, and I nearly vomited when I heard my own skin sizzling like well-done jiaôzi. I had to rip off my uniform shirt, as parts of it had caught fire.

By the time I had gotten a hold of myself and turned to look, I could see the mushroom cloud rising over what had been my home. There were more flashes, distant, but I did not register that the entire region was being bombed.

As if lying in wait for all of those deaths, the radio came to life, and that was how I learned we had been forced to use atomic weaponry on our own city.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
A: I went to get medical attention, whimpering like a dog from the pain. It was in the tent, having bandages put over my wounds, that I heard the gentle patter of rain against the tarp. When I looked to the side, I saw something the color of pitch running over the plastic windows.

 _His eyes mist over with tears, and his voice cracks.  
_  
Black rain. We'd turned the rain _black_. My parents, and millions of other parents, and the children of those parents, and their friends... they were pattering over the tent and dripping down the tarp. That was the closest I'd get to seeing my mother one last time, as radioactive sludge coming down from the sky.

There was little time to grieve. I was bandaged up, and sent into the fight in Chèngdū, even as my own skin blistered and screamed whenever I moved. I didn't see action. By then, we and the Russians had taken virtually of the city.

Then, on the second day, as I patrolled alone through the streets, I found a wounded Race male leaning against an alley wall. He'd been shot in the flank, and was shivering as the cold set in.

 **Q: What did you do?  
**  
A: I helped prop him up, and sat myself down on some bricks across from him, offering a cup of tea from my thermos. I'd seen many of them dressed in the most garish clothing as they tried to stay warm; I'd seen some wearing children's costumes they'd looted, or layers upon layers of women's dresses. He was dressed much the same, almost like a Western clown.

He asked me what I was going to do. I replied that I just wanted to talk with him for a while, if that was alright.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: I suppose... I suppose it was a quest for answers. For the external, and internal. I was emotionally adrift after the loss of my home, and I wished to find something to latch onto. My curiosity was enough, at the time.

I asked him a few questions about himself. About life on Home, and the Race's culture. He told me many things. He was born in Prefillo, and used to cart books around before joining the war. He liked to watch movies about the conquest of Rabotev and Halless, which probably helped propel him to joining up during the Soldier's Time.

Then, I asked him why the Race had come to conquer Earth. To that, he looked at me as though I was insane, and said that it was the Race's right, and there was nothing more to it.

 **Q: What did you think about that?  
**  
A: In that moment, I felt an indescribable... disappointment. For years, as a child, I had dreamed of meeting aliens. I had dreamed of finding kindred amongst the stars, or wise and benevolent beings that would teach us the secrets of the universe. Even when the war started, I found myself wondering if there was some grand purpose to it, some alien ideal that I could scarcely guess at.

And instead, I found self-centered little creatures, with an incredibly dull and unsophisticated culture that had stagnated for longer than human history, who had come to kill millions and take my home away out of some vague notion of manifest destiny. A shallow thing; full of stupidity, willful ignorance, and a disregard for anything that dared challenge their fragile ideals.

I had not found Man's equals, or his betters. I had found his inferiors.

 **Q: What happened then?  
**  
A: I took back my tea, and thanked him for baring the truth to me.

Then, I took a brick, and bashed his head in.

 **Q: That was your first kill, was it not?  
**  
A: It was. Very sloppy; I just kept on slamming the brick into his scaly braincase until I felt the brick striking wet pavement. I remember the emotions pouring through me at the time, how I'd gritted my teeth like an animal as I slaughtered one.

I remember letting the wet brick fall from my hand, then numbly walking back to where humans were. The celebrations were beginning, and I could see civilians mingled in with the soldiers and Russians. Some jaunty tune was playing from a boombox someone had placed on a car, and in that moment, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. As I watched the crowd celebrate the victory, I felt like a man reborn, with my pain and doubts slowly giving way to a deep love.

 **Q: Love?  
**  
A: Love of everything human, of _being_ human. I felt like a husband who'd had a spat with his wife, only to realize his love for her when she falls gravely ill. I realized how much I loved music, and drinking tea, and dancing with beautiful women, and poetry. I realized how much I loved our philosophies, our artworks, all the strange ways we express ourselves and try to understand the universe.

I danced with many people that night. I listened to the music, and had chummy embraces with drunk Russians.

And I vowed to myself that as long as I had breath, I would not let these beasts from other stars hurt what I love.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Seven: Escalation_**


	8. Chapter 8

**Joshi III**

 _Joshi orders another Tau Ceti Slammer as the interview continues; she seems only a little tipsy after the first one. She appears apprehensive of what is to be covered next.  
_  
 **Q: What was your time on the** ** _Flishithy_** **before Operation Yi like?  
**  
A: Well, I first spent two days recovering from my concussion. Weightlessness is beneficial to many medical processes, I suppose; that's why I was in the center of the ship, where the centrifuge spinning didn't really affect me. Chris - the doctor - tended to me as best as he could. I would try to talk with him during that time, but my English wasn't very good, and neither was his Hindi.

Once I was deemed well, the fithp escorted him and I to the garden of their ship. It was a massive cylindrical chamber in the heart of the _Flishithy_. I still remember the strange feeling of being able to look up, and see fithp walking on roof of that little world.

That was also where they stored their _thuktun_. That massive stone block the size of a building, covered in diagrams and designs and alien writing.

A few other people were inside the garden. There were six men and women from China; one seemed to be a soldier, while the others were civilians. One of them was a toddler, who just clung on to his mother and bawled.

I was relieved to see some other people from Mumbai'i, even if I couldn't recognize any of them. I asked them what was going on, but they were in the dark like me. All they knew was that they'd been pulled into space like me, and that the fithp were keen on keeping us alive.

They showed me the ropes, so to say. The bathroom was a pond meant specifically for that purpose, and our food was in the form of whatever canned goods the fithp had scavenged from the ground during their conquests. The people had already strung up a barrier made of towels and coats to hide our nudity while we bathed or used the shit-pond.

 **Q: When did the fithp tell you your purpose aboard?  
**  
A: It was likely a few hours after I got introduced to the group. A pair of fithp came over, and introduced themselves as Takpusseh and Tashayamp, our Breakers. They informed us that we were to serve as the first integration project. That meant they'd have us do simple tasks with fithp around the ship, and see how could get along with them. Tending to the garden, helping them study broadcasts, cleaning, those sort of things.

I was assigned to be led by Tashayamp, as she knew Hindi. She led me and the other people from Mumbai'i to a part of the garden, where she began planting some strange type of shrub with black leaves, and had us do the same. She taught us how to dig the holes, and we had to work together to put the shrubs in.

All the time, she was talking to us about how it was important to 'soil one's own garden'. She sounded very critical of the pollution around the world. As someone who liked to consider herself a green individual, I was pleased to find common ground there. I asked her a few questions about what their world was like, but she was spare with answers. Apparently, that was for when we proved we weren't going to try and murder any fi' we got alone.

After a few hours of that, we were returned to our spot in the garden, and instructed to try and get some rest. I decided to sleep near the Chinese mother and her child; I trusted we would wake the other up in case some of the shadier-looking men tried something.

I didn't get much sleep. Not so much because I wasn't tired, or because of how uneasy I was. It was because Tashayamp and Takpusseh ended up waking us up early, acting very solemn.

 **Q: Was that when you received news of Operartion Yi?  
**  
 _Joshi takes a long gulp of her Slammer. She sucks in a shuddering breath, and I can see the pain in her eyes.  
_  
A: They showed us orbital footage of the operation. I saw... I _saw_ my home city go up in nuclear hellfire. A few flashes of light, and suddenly it was just _gone_.

I had to take it in bits and pieces, as to do so all at once would have destroyed me. I had to think on the individual things that were lost.

My parents? Dead, shadows on the sidewalk. The quiet library with its musty books, where I used to spend my summers reading? Gone, the books turned to ash. The relics, the temples, the museums and the scientific institutes... vaporized.

And it wasn't just that. My entire nation lost something that day. Almost everybody in India knew someone among those twenty million deaths. Friends, family, acquaintances, even friends of friends, or role models, or people they admired. Millions of little strings connecting that city to the rest of India, severed in a moment.

Mumbai was a jewel in our nation. It was the capital of India's economy and entertainment. It was steeped in millennia of culture and history. With its loss, we lost a part of our cultural and religious history. We lost a third of Zoroastrianism, and a capital of ancient kingdoms. We lost the largest film industry.

Perhaps the only Western equivalent I can think of would be if Rome or London had been destroyed in its entirety. Imagine losing all the history and culture steeped into those cities. Imagine if America had lost New York, or if Japan had lost Tokyo? Could those nations even survive such losses?

The feeling was much the same for the Chinese who saw Chongqing go up in flame. Their only consolation was that Shanghai had been spared the same fate, as the fithp had managed to swat down the missiles.

 **Q: What happened in the group?  
**  
A: I remember screaming. I remember howling, and pulling at my hair and beating my fists against the ground. I remember one of the Chinese men trying to run at the Breakers, screaming curses at the top of his lungs. He was calmly swatted to the ground for his trouble.

The two fithp waited for an hour for us to stop our wailing and mourning. Then, growing impatient, they simply left us to grieve.

 _She finishes her Slammer._

On that day, the world ended. At least, the world I knew. For others, the end was still yet to come.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess V**

 _As we continue our meal, Wallafess gestures to a faint mark in the scales on his shoulder._

A: I got this from some shrapnel, after a fithp hover-tank chewed up the room I'd taken cover in. I'd made it through the siege of the city intact, but within a day of those snouts landing, I was out. So was everyone else, really. They'd taken out our starships, they'd flattened most of our landcruisers, and there was no way to launch even a helicopter before their lasers blasted it out of the sky. The chain of command was gone; it was basically every male or squad for themselves.

Ristin got pulped by the tank's guns. One shot, right to the heart. _Splat_. I got coated in little giblets of Ristin, and watched his lower half hit the ground. Just like that, a good friend who loved to take photos, who knew so many quotes from an old movie we used to watch together, was _gone_.

 **Q: I'm sorry for your loss. What happened after that?**

They captured me after that. I was too busy staring at the congealing spatter that was my friend to resist as some big fi' swatted me onto my back with his trunk, and pressed his foot into my chest. After that, I was shoved into the tank, and brought me a temporary holding cell while they prepared to bring me up to their ship.

I had no idea what was going on. They didn't know much Race-tongue, unlike many humans, and I didn't know their strange language. For all I knew, I was about to be dissected, or eaten, or used as cannon fodder. There were a few others in the cell with me. Some males I didn't know, and none other than Straha himself.

 **Q: You were imprisoned alongside _Straha_?**

A: Yep. His paint was smudged in a few places, but it was recognizable. He wasn't talking much, just sitting and listening to what was going on. Even then, he seemed like he was trying to figure out how he could use the situation to benefit him.

If I'd known just _what_ he was up to, I probably would've throttled him right then and there.

 **Q: How long were you in the cell?**

A: We were still there on the day of Operation Yi. I still remember the sound of the fithp's alarms blaring throughout the base they'd set up, and wondering what the hell was going on. There were fithp running back and forth, yelling at each other in that hideous tongue of theirs.

Before I knew it, we were forced out of the cell at gunpoint, and marched into one of their digit-ships. Weird-looking things, I thought, with that big concave section where the laser would hit. Not that I knew, anyway.

We were basically shoved into a cargo hold, and didn't have time to really secure ourselves before they lifted off. I nearly dislocated a stalk as they hauled stump into orbit.

 **Q: You can do that?**

A: Do what?

 **Q: Dislocate a stalk?**

A: Oh, yeah. Hurts like a fucker.

 **Q: Moving on. After you were brought to the Flishithy, what happened next?**

A: I remember being escorted through the ship. I was just shocked by the size of the thing, and how alien the halls were. I was terrified throughout the whole experience, wondering just what was lurking in those big and smelly halls.

I was actually kinda relieved when I was brought into their big garden section. I couldn't recognize any of the plants growing along the walls of the centrifuge, but they didn't look threatening. A few were actually quite pretty.

The fithp guards just guided us over to a section of the garden, where a few humans were. A bunch of Zhōngguórèn, some beefy Russiyan, an American, and a handful of people from Indiya. I remember seeing an Indiyan girl curled up by some bushes, bawling her eyes out. It made me think of the girl I'd shot in Shànghâi.

I tried asking the people from Zhōngguó what was wrong, but they didn't say anything, either. Many of them looked just as upset; one of them tried to actually swing at me before the others pulled her back.

That was when a pair of fithp came in, and began to speak. One knew Race-tongue, and so I was able to understand. Their names were Takpusseh and Tashayamp, and they were our breakers. Apparently, their job was to see how humans and Race could integrate into society.

Straha asked them the urgency of being brought into orbit. It was the first time he'd spoken since we got taken off-planet.

They had a screen with them, and they showed us orbital footage of the initiations in Mumbai'i and Chóngqìng.

 **Q: What was your reaction?**

 _Wallafess takes a long pull of mîjiû. He lets out a shuddering breath as he closes his eyes, as if accessing a part of himself that he prefers to keep buried._

A: I had never seen an explosive metal bomb go off. Not in person, not even in video. None had actually been used in the conquest of Halless or Rabotev, and only four had ever been used in the history of the Race. Two of those were in this war, and I'd only seen a few holograms of the mushroom clouds.

I'd read about them, heard about them; I knew they were our most powerful weapon, but so damaging that they were to be used only when every other option had failed. They told me about the dangers of radiation, back in training, and about the ecological affects of even a few initiations.

Then I saw you hit your own cities with what looked like dozens of bombs. I saw the flashes in the cities, lighting up the nightside of the planet, and saw the few remaining city lights in a good chunk of Indiya go dark. It was hard, realizing that each flash was probably killing tens of thousands of Tosevites, and thousands of my own people. I could see the smoke of the bombs wafting across in realtime.

The Indiyan girl began sobbing again, practically screaming. No one bothered trying to shut her up; they were all seeking comfort in each others' arms or just staring with wet eyes at the screen.

Tashayamp said that it was important that we learn to integrate, lest even worse things happen. Straha asked what they meant by that, only to be told that it was confidential for the time being. All that we needed to know was that the _Flishithy_ was pulling back to lunar orbit to repair some damage from the first day in orbit, and to restock its supplies of metal for its rods. During that time, we'd be under a full gee of thrust, and so had to remain in the strange spiral shape of the garden walls; they served as a sort of staircase when the ship was moving.

 **Q: What happened next?**

A: Then they just left. We were left alone in that garden, to let what happen sink in. A few males began praying to the Emperor. Straha simply sat on a rock and studied his claws, lost in thought.

As for me, I sat down across from the Indiyans, and watched the pain in their eyes.

The girl looked at me, and in that moment, I realized that the war would never really be over for her, or for the others. Not while they lived, and especially not while I lived.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Front Page of Reddit: December 21st, 2020**

(500k) **You were the capital of empires, and the home to millions. You were a jewel of culture and history and art. Alavida, Mumbai.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/pics three hours ago - 599145 comments  
(452k) **The fithp mothership has retreated to lunar orbit, US and EU sources say.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews four hours ago - 20149 comments  
(400k) **Shanghai has been retaken after fithp retreat from city, Chinese officials claim. [** bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews five hours ago - 29143 comments  
(935k) **[MEGATHREAD] Nuclear explosions in Mumbai and Chongqing confirmed.** [self]  
Posted to /r/worldnews twelve hours ago - 5298546 comments  
(193k) **Presidential Address regarding what happened in India and China announced for 8:00 PM tonight.** [whitehouse]  
Posted to /r/news nine hours ago - 29441 comments  
(110k) **Get this to the top. We need to help people find out if their families in Mumbai or Chongqing are alright. Try to see if you can help in any way. URGENT.** [self]  
Posted to /r/invasion six hours ago - 149184 comments  
(42k) **"There is a curse. They say 'may you live in interesting times'." - Terry Pratchett** [self]  
Posted to /r/news three hours ago - 19313 comments  
(300k) **Photograph taken of mushroom clouds in China. Remember this, when the lizards and elephants beg for mercy.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD five hours ago - 193941 comments  
(111k) **One upvote = ten aliens we're gonna kill for this.** [self]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD six hours ago - 19488 comments  
(167k) **Africa and the Middle East have practically gone dark. Does anyone know what the fuck's going on there?** [self]  
Posted to /r/invasion eight hours ago - 49149 comments  
(291k) **Guys, I've been using my telescope to watch all the crap going on in orbit, and I've found this weird thing. It wasn't there before, but it doesn't look like a ship, either. Any ideas?** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/spaceguard nine hours ago - 24244 comments  
(131k) **A few independent analysts claim that this war's death toll has already surpassed WWI's. Let's hope it doesn't surpass WWII.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasion six hours ago - 19391 comments  
(291k) **There hasn't been such a lack of communication or travel between nations since the 1900's. Does anyone know what's going on in affected countries?** [self]  
Posted to /r/askreddit nine hours ago - 19319 comments  
(133k) **Stricter flight bans by US and EU are still in effect, officials say.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/worldnews eight hours ago - 48149 comments  
(293k) **Don't let what's happening make your forget the flooding in the Yangtze. It's only gonna get worse now that the upstream's been nuked.** [self]  
Posted to /r/invasion nine hours ago - 39419 comments  
(330k) **Chengdu has been liberated, Chinese officials say.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews ten hours ago - 68219 comments  
(411k) **Sunrise in Shanghai.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/pics six hours ago - 39193 comments  
(221k) **Internet has been restored to a third of China, and a quarter of India, estimates claim.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/worldnews four hours ago - 58382 comments  
(330k) **Let is remember the sacrifice of this city, and its people. Zaijian, Chongqing.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/invasion five hours ago - 44919 comments  
(111k) **EARTH** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 19114 comments  
(110k) **WILL** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 4429 comments  
(108k) **BREAK** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 28888 comments  
(105K) **BEFORE** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 7111 comments  
(100k) **WE** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 1991 comments  
(99k) **DO** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD three hours ago - 4411 comments

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Hù I**

 _Hù Qíngyù is rather short for a Chinese national, standing a good five inches below the norm. She keeps her hair in a short bob devoid of gray, and the wrinkles around her eyes only highlight their liveliness. We meet at a tea shop in Chēngdù and begin the interview while shopping. Outside the shop, one can see the statue in the city square, of Chinese and Russian soldiers heroically standing as one.  
_  
 **Q: You were part of the disaster response to the the rupture of the Three Gorges Dam, yes?  
**  
A: Yes. I was a Corporal in the newly formed Disaster Response Corps, which had only been established the year before the invasion. The government decided that a larger, and more effective, emergency response system was required for the coming war.

 **Q: What fell under the Corps' jurisdiction?  
**  
A: While the military was to fight the invasion directly, our job was to respond to the aftermath of battles, or any other kind of disaster caused by invasions. If the PLA liberated a city, it was our job to make sure it was up and running again. We would make sure refugees were fed, we restored power grids, we helped evacuations, and we cleaned up the streets.

If the world fell apart by the seams, it was our duty to piece it together again.

 **Q: Which is why you were sent in after the dam broke.  
**  
A: We weren't able to really respond to the flooding en masse until both the Race and the fithp had been repelled from our nation. By then, the damage had already been done. Entire towns and villages swept clean, drowning millions. About four hundred kilometers upstream from Shànghâi, all the debris and bodies had choked up the river, making an impromptu dam. We had to make sure that didn't collapse all at once while we did our job.

It was not easy going. The destruction of the dam had essentially created a narrow path of ruin nearly three thousand kilometers long. Along those three thousand kilometers, we had to search for survivors, clear rubble, and dispose of bodies. _Millions_ of bodies.

We wore hazmat suits for much of the work. Though it was winter, all the decaying dead posed a serious risk. We needed to fish them out of the river before they could taint the water any further. It would not be good to deal with an epidemic in addition to everything else.

 _She selects a box of lapsang, and purchases it. We walk out, then sit down at bench in the square.  
_  
 **Q: I take it you were involved in the clean up of bodies?**

A: Yes. It was unpleasant work. I was in Shànghâi, and I was still finding bodies in the river. Men, women, children... all as pale as death, with wide open eyes and slack jaws. We had to identify the bodies, then put them in body bags. We ended up filing an entire football stadium with them.

 **Q: But Shànghâi is thousands of kilometers downstream. How did those bodies reach all the way down there?**

It made sense, unfortunately; between the damage caused by the bombardments, the flooding of the dam, and restoring both Chēngdù and Shànghâi, we were stretched thin. We didn't even _touch_ Chóngqìng until almost a week after the bombs fell.

 _She sighs.  
_  
Chóngqìng. That... that was what stuck with me. I was unsettled by the bodies caused by the flooding, but I was prepared for it.

But then the bodies from Chóngqìng started coming in.

 **Q: What do you mean?  
**  
A: It's a part of nuclear warfare that most people didn't know before what happened in Chóngqìng. I didn't know, until I saw it first hand.

I want you to imagine that you just survived a nuclear explosion, but just barely. You're covered in radiation burns, all over your body. Your face, your chest, your groin. Every movement, every breath, is agony. The pain floods your mind, allowing the animal part of your brain to take over the decision making process. You're not thinking clearly; you just want to make the pain stop.

So, you shuffle towards the nearest body of water, to try soothe your pain. Maybe it does, when you wade in, and your body responds to that. All around you, thousands of people are doing the same thing, shoving against each other, packing so tightly that they can't even lift their arms. They go deeper, and deeper, until their feet are no longer on the banks. You try to stay afloat, but you are weak after the blast, and tired. Others begin to thrash against you as well, trying to stay above the water, but they can't even move their arms. Some begin to shove others under, without knowing it.

You can't keep it up, and you can't get out. Slowly, but surely, you give up, and sink under. And then...

 _She shudders.  
_  
Thousands of people died in Nagasaki and Hiroshima that way. It didn't change here. There were nearly a quarter million of them, staining the water with blood and other fluids as they drifted downstream. Some of them looked like men made from black licorice, with only their white teeth standing out. Others were more recognizable, with open sores and burns all over their body.

A few... a few were still alive when we found them. But they were living dead; their skin would slough off when you grabbed them and tried to drag them out. The most that could be done was to pull them onto dry land and talk to them before they expired.

We didn't bother trying to identify those bodies. We just buried them in mass graves.

 **Q: What else did you do there?  
**  
A: We also recovered any alien technology we found, in the river or the city. The same went for the bodies of the aliens, Race and fithp alike. Those were confiscated by the spooks in the Ministry of State Security. I don't know what they did with them.

I was there for two weeks, during the lull in the fighting after the fithp retreated to lunar orbit. I ended up in a state hospital in Xiānggâng for the rest of the war, due to exhaustion and mild radiation poisoning.

Well, I've been treated for those things since then. I even got therapy for the clean up work. But, sometimes, on bad days... I don't really get nightmares. I don't. But when I do, I'm one of those living dead in the river, and I'm watching myself pull me to shore and whisper sweet nothings in my ear before death takes me.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Saeed II**

 _Saeed finishes his cigarillo, and lights another one.  
_  
 **Q: During the theater in China and India, what was combat on the Africa front like?  
**  
A: The closest term I can think of would be the American term. Ah, "clusterfuck".

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: Well, there was the damage to the Aswan Dam. It wasn't like what happened to all of those poor people in China, but it was a close call. We had to do emergency draining, and although my country didn't get washed out into the sea, we still lost a great deal of power. Not good when fighting a war.

Thankfully, the Lizards were having problems of their own. Their lines were broken up by the snouts' weapons, and they seemed almost petrified in place. A few small excursions to the south of Egypt got picked off by us. I shot two killercraft down while on patrols during that hellish week.

Still, it was agreed by most of us that once the Lizards got off their asses, we'd be in deep trouble. NATO had the courtesy to inform us that they'd detected nearly three score of new starships landing in Africa on the day the fithp forced them out of orbit.

That was about eight million more of those scaly devils to worry about.

Almost all of Africa was in the clutches of Lizard claws. Our allies in the Middle East were fighting their own battles, trying to liberate the Arabian Peninsula and swaths of Iran and Pakistan, so we couldn't rely on them. The damage to transportation infrastructure and communication meant that we really couldn't rely on NATO, either. The only thing keeping the entire continent from falling, and allowing the Lizards to open a new front in the Middle East, was us, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Just the five of us, against about half of the Lizard army.

 **Q: What did your government do, then?  
**  
A: There was an emergency convention between the governments, and they agreed on making a joint military command for the time being, in order to better combat the threat. Since we had the biggest army, and had already fought off a landing, we were essentially put in charge.

So, when I finally began flying after the orbital space over the region became relatively safe, my squadron now had Libyans and Algerians in it. Let me tell you, trying to keep those undisciplined fucks in line was not easy at first. I remember getting in a fist fight with a pilot who'd nearly clipped my plane.

Still, we had to maintain cohesion. The brass had us play sports with each other during off-hours, in order to try and build a rapport. Me and the pilot I punched actually ended up becoming football buddies. Good ol' Rahman...

Sorry, I was getting off track. You were saying?

 **Q: What actions were taken against the Race during that time?  
**  
A: I've heard rumors that we started supplying resistance fighters, to try and keep the Lizards bogged down in occupied countries, but I don't know about that. _Laughs._ Considering the nastiness they got up to in places, plausible deniability was probably for the best.

All I know for sure is that I began to fly a lot more missions. My squadron and I took out killercraft patrols, and did strafing runs of nearby Lizard bases. Occasionally, we were sent on deep air strikes. I'm talking about hitting bases in Addis Ababa, or Bangui. Those.. those were the riskier ones. We lost a lot of pilots during that time. Still, it was better than having them organize more quickly, and launch coordinated assaults into our territories.

 **Q: So this was mainly an air war?  
**  
A: Yes. Almost like the Battle of Britain, but it was us attacking _their_ territory, in order to prevent an invasion of _ours_. An inversion, really.

Though, there are key differences, I'd say. If one of us had to eject and landed in Lizard territory, odds were some locals would help us sneak out, or at least turn a blind eye. If a Lizard landed in our territory, however, they were captured. If they landed in their own territory, then they occasionally ran the risk of getting attacked by a mob, if those disgusting internet videos meant anything.

It wasn't enough to keep the borders unbesmirched, however. Occasionally, a few thousand of them would try to attack our bases closer to their territory, and there was a big offensive into Algeria that we had to fight off. I think there were a hundred thousand Lizards in that one.

Ultimately, however, it was a losing battle. Each day, the Lizards got more organized. And the more organized they got, then the more effectively they'd be able to use their vast numerical superiority. And then it'd be all over for us. We were growing battered, just trying to keep them disrupted. Tunisia lost four fifths of its air force, and my own country lost three hundred planes by the end of the month.

Of course, when the New Year came about, things changed. But even before then, I knew. I knew that even this desperate battle we were fighting, to try and hold the line for our allies in the Middle East, that this part of the war was a _breather_ in comparison to what came before, and what was going to come after.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Fistareth-thuktun I**

 _Fistareth-thuktun lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches classes on the history of fithp and the nature of thuktunthp at Yale University. His office is right across from Ttomalss's; apparently the two of them are notorious amongst the staff for their explosive arguments._

By fithp standards, he is old and wizened, with droopy ears and cracked foot-claws. He drinks coffee directly from a large pot as we begin the interview.

 **Q: You served aboard Message Bearer as a historian-priest-scientist during the war, yes?  
**  
A: Yes, though that is only the closest term. I was chosen to study the thukun aboard thirty years before our arrival at Winterhome, due to my studious nature, and spent ten of those years learning of earlier thuktunthp. I pored over photographs of diagrams for metallurgy and agriculture, as well as nuclear physics and the workings of biology. I recreated attempts to bring the early designs to life under the eye of my predecessor, to see how well I could help bring the more advanced designs to life.

I found that it was fulfilling work, despite the difficulty.

 **Q: The nature of thuktunthp are still a source of much debate. You've gone on record of saying that they were left behind by a predecessor species, but there are some who insist that it was placed by an earlier civilization of fithp. What is your opinion on that?  
**  
A: They are fools, who have not studied the thuktun we brought with us. It is evident that the designs they etched into the stone were not specifically tailored to us, due to the nature of the writing we found alongside the diagrams; they are not meant for our trunks. The Predecessors existed, loremaster. The only question, therefore, is their fate, and that is something even I cannot know.

 **Q: Moving on, then. How did the war impact your work?  
**  
A: I spent less time studying the Podo Thuktun directly, and more time searching through the earlier thuktun. The Life-Thuktun, the Shape-Thuktun... I and my disciples were tasked to find any information the Predecessors may have left regarding Winterhome and its inhabitants. Ultimately, however, it proved fruitless labor. The Predecessors knew that Winterhome was habitable, but did not know of your kind. Perhaps you had not evolved yet, before they disappeared.

The day after the prisoners were brought aboard, the Breakers showed them the Podo Thuktun. I paid them no heed as I continued my work; my duty meant that such matters were of no concern to me.

Then, of course one of the Breakers chose to ask me questions that the prisoners had. Most of them were rubbish. "What are those etchings?" "Did you make that?"

 **Q: Most?  
**  
A: The only question that gave me pause was "Is the knowledge in that thuktun what brought you here?" It was enough to make me ask the Breaker who had make the inquiry, and I found myself looking down at a small male from the Outsider Herd.

After they had left, I forwarded an inquiry to the Breakers, asking them what role that male played in his own herd. A day later, I was informed that he had been the Attackmaster of his old fithp. A valuable mind, and one that seemed useful for my own tasks.

 **Q: So what did you do?  
**  
A: I asked the Breakers to send him to me. If they were to be absorbed into the herd, then they would be occupying all of its niches. That meant that, in a few generations, there could be a Winterhome fi' or Outsider fi' occupying my position. A head start was important, and perhaps an outsider could prove useful in cracking the remaining puzzles in the Podo Thuktun.

 **Q: So you essentially made Straha your apprentice?  
**  
A: Less than that. He could not understand the language; my disciples had to translate for him, and it was rudimentary. He operated the computer screen that pulled up images of older thuktun, and his small size was useful for squeezing into nooks and crannies in order to repair our equipment. His superior eyesight also helped when it came to correcting notes.

He was very useful. He ate and slept far less than my disciples, only requesting that he be allowed a vial of some orange powder every day, and was a very inquisitive mind. He began to study the older thuktunthp with assistance, and was constantly asking me questions. Occasionally, I asked him questions of my own, when I felt that his input could break a rut.

After two Winterhome weeks, he was learning from the Podo Thuktun directly, poring over the stone. He learned of the technologies we used to wage this war, and of our plans for the future of the system.

 **Q: There was nothing alarming about it?  
**  
A: No. He was assimilating perfectly, which was what we had hoped for. The only odd behavior I could not discern was why he would occasionally take an entire vial of the powder during breaks, then curl up in a ball for a few eight-cubed breaths. I did not waste much time thinking on it; I assumed it was only some quirk of his biology.

If I had known the truth, I would have likely had him dismissed, and the history of our herds would be vastly different.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Paulson II**

 **Q: When exactly did the US government realize that something strange was going on?  
**  
A: A good two years before the war began, if you really want to be broad about the definition of "something strange".  
 _  
Paulson produces some astronomical slides, and places them on the table for me to see.  
_  
The first inkling suspicion was when the fithp began leaving Saturn on a wacky kind of brachistochrone transfer. We still could detect the burn of their fusion drive, but the craft was moving a lot slower than anticipated. That engine was burning for a good _three years_ , something powerful enough to bring a massive ship across the stars, and yet it barely passed the orbit of Jupiter before it began to increase velocity with an acceleration of 0.8 _g_.

At the time, there could have been a number of explanations. Some fusion drives can actually "shift gears"- they can go from high impulse but low thrust to low impulse and high thrust. It's a method of fuel conservation, which would make sense. They might have decided to quicken the flight to Earth after the Cassini images, we thought. Still, it was important to consider all sorts of possibilities...

The idea of asteroid bombardment had been one of the first things the government began worrying about, even before that, which meant pouring more funds into observatories like my own. I ended up reporting directly to NORAD, of all places. We kept our eyes on the asteroid belt, since that was the ideal locale to pluck rocks from.

 **Q: Why so?  
**  
A: Well, there's a wealth of iron-nickel asteroids when compared to the Kuiper Belt or gas giant systems, which would be ideal impactors, and you wouldn't need to push the rock out of some planet's gravity well. We especially kept our eyes on the ones that would be easier to nudge in our direction, like Apophis.

We weren't expecting the fithp to actually pull a rock from the Saturn system, considering that they needed to achieve a system escape velocity of thirty six kilometers per second. Then again, perhaps they knew we weren't expecting that.

 **Q: When did you realize that the the Foot was not a hypothetical danger?  
**  
A: Far later than I would have liked. Between observing the Conquest Fleet, tracking the _Flishithy_ , and keeping an eye on the belt for anything strange, we didn't notice the Foot until the snouts actually began their invasion. We could've done it earlier, if the initiations in the stratosphere that the Race did before the invasion hadn't fried some of our more delicate equipment. It didn't help that the snouts flattened observatories around the planet, either.

 _She points at one of the slides, showing a starry field. Around a point of light, there is a circle._

Still, we eventually realized that there was an object approaching our general vicinity, about two days after the fithp came. We didn't know for sure if it was an asteroid yet, or just their discarded fuel tank, but by then we had someone we could ask.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Harpanet V**

 _Harpanet and I sit down under the shade of a tree in the back lawn of the White House while we have a light snack of some fruits and cheeses. The Secret Service form a perimeter around the tree, keeping an eye out for any possible dangers.  
_  
 **Q: After your capture on American soil, you were brought over to Cheyenne Mountain to be questioned. What was that time like?  
**  
A: I was greatly stressed. Though you seemed reasonable enough to understand my surrender, I did not know how I would be treated upon arrival at Cheyenne. I also did not know if the environment was ultimately to have a negative effect on my health.

There were many things happening when I arrived. The soldiers guided me out of the armored truck they had transported me in, and I found myself in broad daylight, surrounded by forest, with only a gate built into a mountainside facing me. They brought me inside, where I was given a thorough cleaning, and then I was herded to an empty room. I was alone for a few minutes, then the soldiers returned, with three men and three women alongside them.

 **Q: Scientists?  
**  
A: Yes. Scientists and Dreamer fithp. They asked me simple questions in a broken mixture of English and my own language, which they had intensely studied after my old herd's arrival.

 **Q: What sort of questions?  
**  
A: If I needed food, or a special bed. I replied as best as I could that I needed plant matter to eat, a mud pit that I could wallow in, and that I not be left alone.

They agreed, then took some samples from me. A mouth swab, a skin scraping, and some of my blood. They told me it was to know what was safe for me to eat. Then three of them left, while the rest stayed with me, occasionally asking questions, or simply trying to build their vocabulary. I took the time to try and learn more English.

Some hours later, I was brought to a new room, and was pleased to find a mud pit waiting for me, with fresh cut fruit and shoots waiting for me. After I gorged myself, the Dreamers wallowed in the mud pit with me, and asked more simple questions.

 **Q: How long did it take to develop a good understanding of the language?  
**  
A: After ten of your days, we knew enough of each others' languages to ask more difficult questions. They asked me why my old fithp had come here, and of our reasoning. During those first weeks, I told them of the exile from our home, and of how we waged war in the past.

It was on the third week that a new human fi' entered the room, surrounded by soldiers. One of the Dreamers, the one called Larry, told me that this was the Herdmaster of the American fithp.

 **Q: What did the President ask of you?  
**  
A: He asked me if my old fithp had plans to use a large asteroid as a weapon, pulling up photos of a point of light they had detected.

 **Q: What did you tell him?  
**  
A: I told him the truth, as is proper. I told him of the Foot, and of how we had spent three years pushing it. I did not know much of the specifics, but I told them it was the rough size of Message Bearer herself.

The Dreamers made some calculations, which was enough to alarm them. I remember seeing the look of panic in my new Herdmaster's eyes. They asked me if I knew when or where it was due to make impact. I replied that I didn't know, as it was the truth.

The Herdmaster excused himself from the room after that, and I was left to spray mud with the Dreamers, wondering how long my time there would be.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Eight: Lull_**


	9. Chapter 9

**Joshi IV**

 _After finishing her last Slammer, Joshi decides to order a plate of spiced chicken wings, and messily digs into her meal as we continue our interview.  
_  
 **Q: When did the possibility of a coup first get discussed?  
**  
A: I think it was only three days or so after our capture that Vyacheslav... the Russian pilot... began chatting with Zhou and Cai, the two Chinese soldiers. One of the women from Mumbai'i knew Chinese, and would occasionally fill the rest of us in. The three of them were debating whether or not it'd be possible to fight their way to a digit ship and try to get off the _Flishithy.  
_  
There was no way that actually could have worked; even if they did manage to get to a digit ship, there was no way to pilot it, let alone keep from getting blasted out of orbit by the _Flishithy_ or any wary ground forces.

Thankfully, they seemed to figure that out themselves. By day five of our captivity, they'd told the rest of us humans about their ideas.

 **Q: Not the Race?  
**  
A: The Race males did their own thing. They usually huddled in their own little clump across the bathroom-pond from us, talking to each other in hushed tones. Sometimes I'd try to listen in, but I never managed to hear anything juicy.

Occasionally, Chris would try to strike up a conversation with them, if only because he really couldn't talk to the others aside from me. Most of them would shut up and shy away when he walked over, but this big Rabotev would actually chat with him for a bit. When I asked him what they talked about, he'd tell me it was usually stuff about Earth cultures, and leave it at that.

 **Q: Did the fithp have the humans and Race males do tasks together?  
**  
A: Yes, actually. They started having us work the garden together, or clean out the vents. Cai ended up getting put in isolation for a day after he punched some Hallessi hard enough to disloacate his stalk, after the Hallessi allegedly cracked a joke about spit-roasted Sichuan cuisine, but the rest managed to at least tolerate each other.

Admittedly, the Race males were actually less trouble to be around than a lot of the people. I think it helped that I knew the language, and they didn't kick up a ruckus with the fithp. Plus, their small size made cleaning the vents a lot easier.

 **Q: Did you ever talk with the males you worked with?  
**  
A: One or two of them offered their condolences about my home, but stayed quiet. I never worked with Straha, which in retrospect was probably for the best. A few others who'd been in China asked me about Indian culture, or whatever questions they had about my species.

 **Q: What kind of questions?  
**  
A: One asked me how they'd managed to fill up all those jugs of milk at the markets he'd raided.

 _She laughs.  
_  
He thought that breast milk and cow milk were the same thing, and just got confused when I clarified things for him. I later saw him peeping at Li feeding her kid, with a look of curiosity and horror on his face.

Others asked me about why people wore clothes instead of paint, or about my religion. Some were dismissive when I spoke about Hinduism, but others were interested. On my side, I'd ask them about Emperor-worship, or about why there were no women with them.

Overall, however, things were still tense between us and the Race aboard. We stayed apart from each other while we slept, and occasionally a few would start shouting matches with each other.

Chris and I stayed out of it; were uncomfortable with both sides. A lot were still grieving their homes, and did weird things because of it. Random sex wasn't uncommon.

 _She pops a wing in her mouth, and spits out a pair of bones.  
_  
Chris and I started sleeping together after a few days. Part of it was because there wasn't much else to do, and part of it was because it made me forget about what'd happened to my home. It was clumsy, it was awkward, but we both figured this could be the last chance for two virgins.

Then, about a week or two after I arrived, the damndest thing happened.

 **Q: What was it?  
**  
A: It was during the "off-shift", when all of us had gotten back from the tasks we'd be assigned. I was sitting in the shade of a bush-thing with Chris, and all of a sudden we heard a huge argument amongst the Race males. I heard exclamations of "damnation" or "savages" or "bad idea". Then, the seeming leader shut everyone up, and the big Rabotev that Chris befriended came over and sat with us.

He introduced himself to me as Wallafess, and told me that he and the others had overheard our plans to try and wreak havoc in the ship, or even try and take it over.

He told me that the Race males had been discussing the same thing, and wanted to know if the humans were willing to team up.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess VI**

 _After our meal, Wallafess orders a bowl of chilled peanut butter, with graham crackers on top. He chews the first spoonful for a moment, then motions that I can resume the interview.  
_  
 **Q: What made you and the other males decide to ask the human prisoners for cooperation in planning the coup?  
**  
A: Well, for the first week or so, we tried to see if we could do it on our own. However, after a while, some of us began to realize we were going to need the humans' help. Without them, we didn't have the numbers, and as much as we didn't want to admit it, we also didn't have the muscle to pull off half the stunts we needed to to. The three human soldiers in the group probably had more muscle packed on them then half the Race males in the party.

Didn't keep us from arguing about it. A bunch of us said that the humans would betray us the first change they got, just to get revenge on us, while others said that the humans would probably bungle the operation up.

Ultimately, however, Straha rallied the pro-teamwork side, and the decision was made. They sent me over to talk with a human I'd befriended, an American doctor named Chris. In turn, Chris and the Indiyan girl that he'd started screwing went and talked to the rest of the humans.

I liked Chris. I remember how'd we spend hours talking with each other during our time aboard, discussing all sorts of things. He was my first glimpse into American culture; he even had the Preamble of the Constitution _and_ the Declaration of Independence tattooed on his back. In return, he constantly asked me questions about what it was like on Home, and what kind of literature and movies we had.

I guess we were chosen to be the 'emissaries' of each others' side, because of how well we got along. It definitely worked. There were a few scuffled, a few shouting matches, but the two sides managed to get along pretty well.

 **Q: How did you actually plan the coup?  
**  
A: A lot of that came from Straha, since he was allowed to work alongside the elephants on that rock. He told us about how their scheduling worked, which was important, and he also offered a lot more insight into the elephants' way of thinking. He stressed that we had to act obedient, if we wanted to avoid suspicion, and that if we managed to convince them, then they'd be utterly blindsided when we finally struck.

Even then, I was wary of that addled prick. I'd already lost a lot of respect when I found out he was a ginger taster, then it only got worse as he began to work more and more on that rock in the ship. It was like the sheer amount of spice he was lapping up and all that outside-context alien knowledge had begun to combine and fry his brain, making him act very un-Racelike. I mean, there'd be rumors beforehand about him practically devouring human documents back in Shànghâi, but we'd all dismissed it.

Anyway, back to the question. Vyacheslav began counting the number of 'steps to go from place to place, and Zhou began making a rough map of the ship from that, as well as his own observations. Me and a few other males started trying to figure out the vents, and the parts where the walls were farthest apart. It'd be important, later. Others just tried to figure out good hiding spots, to keep Li and her not-hatchling safe.

 **Q: An average fithp male is four hundred kilograms. How were you planning on fighting them?  
**  
A: Well, we were hoping to avoid fighting them whenever possible, but we came up with some plans. That was why we were measuring the distance between walls; we'd all seen the fithp moving around in microgravity. They're huge, and those trunks don't lend themselves well to proper adjustment of position; compared to us or humans, they're incredibly awkward and clumsy in zero g. If we could basically shove them into the middle of a room, to the point where their trunks couldn't grab anything, then they'd be unable to do anything.

If we did that to a warrior, then perhaps we could get his gun, and if we got his gun, then maybe we could stand a chance in a fighting retreat through the halls and vents.

At the same time, we started collecting sticks around the garden, and started sharpening them with whatever we could use. Zhōu and Suresh, who some engineer from Mumbai'i, even ended up sneaking a bunch of supplies in a place I don't want to mention. They did little chemistry experiments behind the cloth they used for privacy in the shit-pond, and actually managed to make some primitive form of gunpowder.

We had two Hallessi in the group; I think their names were Pfalawap and Ttak. They acted as lookouts; those big ears can hear well, and at frequencies higher than us; if one saw a guard or Breaker coming over, he'd alert the other with some whistle none of us could hear, and then his buddy would tell us to hide what we were doing. We had a little hole that we shoved the bags of gunpowder in, and we'd hide the sharp sticks amongst the rest of the bramble.

We almost got caught a few times, but they never realized what we were doing. We cleaned the vents, we gardened, we acted like obedient not-elephants, and we planned to take over their ship.

It was during those weeks that we heard about some argument going on between some of the elephants. I had no idea what they were talking about, really, and I didn't care. But I guess Straha did, because one day he told us that we'd need to act soon. He said something about how the ship was preparing to leave lunar orbit, and we'd have a window where we'd be in microgravity, which was the best time to act.

 **Q: How long a window?  
**  
A: I think about a human hour, maybe two. It was hard to keep track of time in that ship. It's like that feeling when you don't have a clock, plus the fact that night and day didn't really matter anymore.

So, we waited in that garden for a sign that it was about to happen.

And, eventually, it did. The shit-pond started freezing, and we realized we were feeling lighter.

 **Q: Why did the pond freeze?  
**  
A: A big glob of water would've been problematic in microgravity. I was just glad I wasn't near it, unlike poor Ppanat.

 _He shudders, then eats another spoonful of peanut-butter.  
_  
That was when Tashayamp and a guard came floating in to tell us that we were leaving lunar orbit, and that was when we started the coup.

Me and the other troopmales went for the guard, and just went savage on the poor guy. I saw Ttak biting the fi's trunk to make him let go of the gun, and I think I might've sunk my claws into his eye.

Doesn't really matter. What matters is that we got the gun, and managed to get him away from the walls. Tashayamp was also pushed away by the humans, but they didn't hurt her. She might've been trying to forcibly integrate us into her society, but she was actually fairly nice.

Vyacheslav and Cài got the gun, since the thing was too big for anyone else to really use. Everyone else just grabbed their sticks, while our two anarchists in the making grabbed our gunpowder bombs.

 **Q: What happened next?  
**  
A: We stole Tashayamp's key, and split into groups. Chris and I went into the hall with Vyacheslav and Cài to kinda serve as backup, since I was probably the best fighter after them and Chris was beefy enough to possibly use the gun in case on of them got pulped. Zhōu and Suresh went with a few others to find the common area, and a bunch of the women and troopmales shimmied into the vents.

We were planning on having them light fires in the vents, but you know what they say: no plan survives first contact with the enemy. I guess the stuff they grabbed didn't burn, or maybe they lost the tools they were planning on using. All I know is that we didn't get the fire we wanted.

 **Q: Did you get in a shootout with any guards?  
**  
A: Yeah, actually. It wasn't until we were nearly halfway to the bridge, actually; everyone was getting into a good spot for when the acceleration came, or changing shifts. I think the guy we shot at was late.

It _looked_ painful when Vyacheslav and Cài shot the guard. Those old rifles were like anti-material guns on ginger. A loud crack, a dead guard painting the halls with his brains, and two humans tumbling back with bruised shoulders.

We took the dead guard's gun, and decided that we should probably brace against the walls after that.

There were more after that; I guess they heard their buddy getting blasted. I managed to hit two, I think. Maybe more. Vyacheslav got pulped. But, we managed to kill the guards, and continued towards the bridge. We started throwing small cherry bomb-like things down the halls, too; we had to keep others off our trail, and make them think they were in more dire straits then they actually were.

Our fucking luck that the door to the bridge was locked shut. That was when we knew that the others had been found, but we had no clue if we were succeeding or not. For all we knew, we could have been the last mutineers.

So, we got the heaviest, rammiest thing we could find, and started smashing it into the door. It was an awkward thing. We had to push it with our feet, and pull ourselves along the rungs in the walls in order to build up enough momentum. After a few minutes, Chris and Cài took over completely, and just had me stand guard with the gun.

 **Q: Did it do anything?  
**  
A: No.

 _He takes another spoonful of peanut butter.  
_  
Those doors were designed to withstand anti-material weapons; all we did was scuff the paint and make a shallow scratch. Didn't stop us from doing it over and over, though.

Then, after probably twenty minutes, the door opened all on its own, and guess _who_ came out?

 **Q: Straha?  
**  
 _Wallafess dips a cracker in the peanut butter and offers it to me as a prize.  
_  
A: I managed to piece it together, eventually. I didn't know what happened, at the time. And who knows; maybe my version of the story isn't the fully true one, either. We'll never really know, I guess.

Basically, Straha got himself captured deliberately, and was brought to the bridge to be interrogated by the Herdmaster as to why we were waging mutiny. Apparently, we were interrupting a "very delicate" operation.

 **Q: Leaving lunar orbit?  
**  
A: No. Turns out, the Herdmaster was debating with the other higher-ups about whether or not they should offer a conditional surrender to Earth. I guess they'd realized how much trouble it was going to be after the humans glassed their own cities just to kick them out. I don't know what the surrender would've entailed; someone told me that they were going to leave Earth alone in exchange for being left alone while they colonized the asteroid belt, but I don't know if that's actually what would've happened.

While they were interrogating him, Zhōu and Suresh actually managed to make it to the common area, where the elephants kept a bunch of the women and children. No one else made it. Then, they basically threatened to blow themselves up with the gunpowder bombs, which would've killed the women and children. Also, an explosion inside of a spacecraft is probably the last thing you want to happen, aside from a total reactor failure.

Oh, and we were hammering on the door at the same time.

I guess that, between the danger of losing a crapload of women and children, the danger of starting a war in retaliation that would only end in the destruction of the _rest_ of his herd, and the seeming danger of our useless banging against the door, the Herdmaster did the only thing he _could_ do.

 _Wallafess claps his claws together.  
_  
And like that, Straha was suddenly the new Herdmaster.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: Well, the fithp guards escorted us back to the garden, but this time Straha was in charge. Zhōu and Suresh stood down, and were allowed to safely meet up with us in the garden. The same went for everyone who'd been in the vents. I remember the feeling of victory I had with Chris and his girlfriend, as we realized that _we_ were the ones in charge, now.

That feeling died pretty quick when Straha ordered Zhōu and Suresh shot.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: Well, he couldn't have another mutiny on his hand, could he?

I remember how everything in the garden seemed to stand still after we saw the two get blasted to smithereens. I remember exclaiming something, and I guess that rubbed Straha the wrong way, or maybe he feared that I could be trouble, too, due to my friendship with Chris.

 **Q: What makes you say that?  
**  
A: Because when he had the humans imprisoned again, I was included with them. The rest of the males got to accompany him back to the bridge so they could contact the Conquest Fleet, but I was left under strict guard.

I remember how shitty I was feeling, after that. To unknowingly help my friends lose any chance of getting back home.

 _He finishes the rest of his peanut butter._

But if I felt bad, then the humans felt even worse. After all, could you _imagine_ getting tricked into seemingly sealing the fate of your entire species?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar IV**

 **Q: The month following the destruction of Mumbai and Chongqing is widely regarded as the least eventful. Was there any reasoning for that on your end?  
**  
A: There was a good reason: I had no idea what our next move would be.

 _He gestures to the hologram of Earth.  
_  
We had been dealt a crippling blow during your so-called Operation Yi. Four landing sites destroyed or retaken in a matter of two Tosevite days, killing a good three million males. Our presence in Asia had been halved. We had lost control of the orbitals, which meant that we could not properly make new landings.

There was more than that, however. When you destroyed two of your own cities and incinerated millions of your own people to repel the fithp, I realized the depths of your alien psychology and cultures. We would _never_ win the war. You would fight tooth and claw, use every last bullet and artillery shell to repel us. And if we even managed to start winning conventionally, you would simply pull out your explosive metal bombs and destroy yourselves to destroy us.

I had ruled out the possibility of continuing the war, but now I needed to come up with a better plan. The safety of the Colonization Fleet and Home was paramount, but I'd prefer to also ensure that at least a few of us managed to escape Tosev alive.

 **Q: Is that why your starships started entering orbit?  
**  
A: We only sent out three at first, to see if they would be attacked by the fithp. When no missiles ripped them apart, we began to send more ships into orbit, while leaving the pre-fithp forces on the planet in order to guard the borders while I debated our next step.

 **Q: What courses of action were you considering?  
**  
A: I initially spent two weeks debating with Kirel whether or not to attempt to reestablish the ceasefire with the various Tosevite governments. Ultimately, we decided that after the loss of your cities, you would likely be far less willing to cede land to us, even temporarily. After witnessing the full might of your nuclear arsenal during the battles with the fithp, I was unwilling to press your temper more than needed.

We then began to consider the possibility of offering a conditional surrender to the various governments of Tosev III. We spent another two weeks arguing what the terms would be. Kirel argued that we should try to only make a conditional surrender with the larger powers, but I'd seen firsthand the effectiveness of that during the ceasefire.

 **Q: What did you ultimately decide on in regards to the terms of surrender?  
**  
A: On our side of the conditions, we were to pull our forces out of Tosev III, and help reestablish the governments we had dismantled during our conquest. We would also surrender our explosive metal bomb arsenal, to prove that we had no intent of breaking the bargain.

In exchange, we would receive no harassment from Tosev III, and they would distract the fithp if they attempted to attack us as we flew to Tosev IV and refueled our fusion drives, using the water ice there. On that planet, we would also leave all of our unnecessary equipment, such as landcruisers, troopcarriers, and killercraft. With the empty weight, we would be able to more effectively use our fusion drives.

We would then wait in orbit around Tosev V for the Colonization Fleet, drawing their attention to our location. We would warn them of the situation, and have them unload all unnecessary equipment, as we had done. They would refuel using the water ice on the moon you call Europa, and then both Fleets would race back towards Home to warn the Emperor of the dangers of the Tosev system.

However, before I could officially unveil the plan to the rest of the Shiplords, we received a strange communication from the fithp mothership - the first we had _ever_ received.

The only thing more shocking was the fact that I recognized the voice speaking.

 **Q: Straha?  
**  
 _Atvar hisses.  
_  
A: And so, my plans had been completely offset by his astounding capture of the fithp. I was still disbelieving of it, even as a lone digit-ship approached the _Hetto_ without any weapons, and the Shiplord came aboard with a pair of fithp with him.

 **Q: What were the reactions from the rest of the Shiplords?  
**  
A: Some, like Kirel, were worried that his time aboard the _Flishithy_ could have deleterious effects on his mental health. Others were jubilant that we had managed to capture at least _one_ species, and hailed his return as a triumphant hero. That side only grew stronger when he mentioned all the boons the fithp could bring the Empire.

When I finally gathered all the Shiplords to announce my plan, I should have expected that he would vocally oppose it. I still believed that he was capable of seeing reason at the time.

I still remember the argument that ensued between him and I. He called me a coward. I called him foolhardy. He dared to paint me as a traitor to the Empire by letting the Tosevites keep their planet and possibly threaten us in the future, and so I declared that he would doom the Colonization Fleet if he got his way.

Unfortunately, many of the Shiplords harbored a resentment towards me. They blamed me for all of the losses we had suffered in the war, and some of Straha's faction began to outright deride me as a failure of a Fleetlord. He began to speak of how the fithp had weapons that could win the war, and ensure that the Tosevites would be under our heel before the end of next year.

I decided to try and stem the issue before it grew out of hand, and declared a vote.

 **Q: A vote?  
**  
A: In our laws, it is written that if a Fleetlord's capability is being questioned, a vote can be called in to determine if he should be removed from his position. A supermajority is required, however, and it had never been even debated in previous conquests.

 _Atvar pours another two fingers of brandy._

The final vote came in at eighty seven percent.

 **Q: What happened after you were removed from the position?  
**  
A: I was made Shiplord of the _67th Emperor Sohreb._ Another vote was announced, to determine who would become the next Fleetlord. The two main choices were Kirel and Straha. I voted for Kirel.

I was only one of eighteen who did. Straha won seventy seven percent of the vote.

It took two days of being forced to land in Bangui out while the rest of the Fleet rendezvoused with the _Flishithy_ in lunar orbit, and watching fithp moving about my old ship as Straha prepared his secret big offensive, that I came to the most painful choice of my life.

I first announced my intention to the crew of the _Sohreb_ , and said that any who desired could leave for another landing sight. Only fifteen did.

 **Q: Why only fifteen?  
**  
A: The Shiplords may have desired to continue the war, but most of the troopmales only wanted to return Home. They were disillusioned after months of suffering on this Emperor-forsaken planet, and simply desired a quick end to the war.

Once the dissenters left, I ordered that the _Sohreb_ take off, then charted a landing trajectory for the not-empire of France. At the same time, we spammed any Tosevite channel we could find with a declaration of surrender.

 **Q: Were you afraid that they wouldn't accept it?  
**  
A: Yes. Thankfully, they did. Apparently, they had known about the transition in power via their intelligence organizations about a day after the vote, and were expecting possible defections. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ordered me to land in a certain spot, and I was escorted by their killercraft all the while.

I remember coming down in a field about a hundred kilometers from Paris, surrounded by enough landcruisers and missile launchers to easily destroy the ship. As I descended the landing ramp to meet with the commanding officer in the region, waving a white flag, I knew that things would never be the same again, for any of us.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Nine: A Shifting Balance_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Audio Transcript - Convening of the Shiplords, 127th Emperor Hetto. January 9th, 2021**

 **19:00:09 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "Shiplords of the Race, I have gathered you here today to address a number of growing concerns I have noticed amongst our ranks. Chief among them, the mutiny of Shiplord Atvar, as well as the addition of the Chpatisk Fithp to our ranks."

 **19:00:58 [Shiplord Horrep]:** "Atvar the Damned!"

 **19:01:02 [Shiplord Tesakra]:** "Atvar the Traitor!"

 **19:01:13 [Shiplord Ktitish]:** "Exalted Fleetlord, is it then true that the traitor has taken his ship and crew to the not-empire of the _République Française?_ "

 **19:01:54 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "It is true. Intelligence officer Drefsab has confirmed that Atvar, Emperor-forsaken he is, has allied himself with the barbarous Tosevites. Specifically, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which stands to be perhaps the most powerful military alliance on the planet, if only due to the fact that one of its founding members is the United States of America."

 **19:02:31 [Shiplord Shanak]:** "It seems that this America has been insidiously extending its claws across this chilly egg of a world, Exalted Fleetlord. Many of the weapons and hardware used by the not-empires we encountered in Africa and Asia were produced by them, and there is the matter of their ability to repel a landing..."

 **19:03:12 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "I have a plan to deal with America, which segues into the next concern I have become aware of. I have been made aware that there is a great deal of... worry, regarding the Chpatisk Fithp."

 **19:03:32 [Shiplord Kirel]:** "Exalted Fleetlord, with the utmost respect, the Chpatisk Fithp who are now aboard the _Hetto_ have made my males nervous. Many of them are unconvinced that they are loyal, due to their seemingly random killings in Indiya and Zhōngguó."

 **19:04:01 [Shiplord Ntala]:** "Not to mention their strange habits. They defecate casually in the living quarters they have taken, and consume much more food than my males. I feel part of this may be due to the fact that we are unsure of why they are aboard."

 **19:04:51 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "The fithp are loyal to their defeaters, just as we are loyal to the Emperor. In their hearts, they are already Race. This fi' besides me was the former Herdmaster of the defunct herd, and now he is my advisor. Pastempeh-keph, what herd do you belong to?"

 **19:05:02 [Advisor Pastempeh-keph]:** "I am Race-fithp, Herdmaster."

 **19:05:06 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "The fithp are not treacherous, unlike the barbarous Tosevites. They will fight for the Emperor now, just as we have done since birth. And they are aboard this ship, and many other ships, for the express purpose of helping us win this war."

 **19:05:33 [Shiplord Kirel]:** "But how, Exalted Fleetlord? Already our estimated losses stand at eleven million males, as well as eight thousand landcruisers and seven thousand killercraft. Not to mention the loss of many starships..."

 **19:06:03 [Shiplord Ddalak]:** "I must reluctantly agree, Exalted Fleetlord. Though it us our duty to bring Tosev III under control, it seems more and more unlikely. They are addled, willing to use explosive metal bombs on their own populations in order to strike at us, and the atrocities I have heard make my liver quail at the thought. Even the fithp had their first landings beaten back into the orbitals."

 **19:06:57 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "Perhaps victory was unattainable before, but it is no longer the case. The fithp have not only brought their ship and their technology to aid us; they have a secret weapon, one that will secure us the planet. It is called the Foot."

 _Thirty seconds of silence, with the only sound being the whirring of a holoprojector.  
_  
 **19:07:27 [Shiplord Horrep]:** "I don't see it, Exalted Fleetlord. I simply see an asteroid."

 **19:07:55 [Shiplord Ddalak]:** "Is it orbiting the asteroid?"

 **19:08:22 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "The weapon _is_ the asteroid, gathered Shiplords."

 _Forty seconds of unintelligible chatter amongst the Shiplords, with occasional exclamations.  
_  
 **19:09:01 [Advisor Pastempeh-keph]:** "Thuktun Flishithy was mated to this moonlet for three years, pushing with its fusion drive. It has a velocity of sixty kilometers per second, and a mass of eighteen billion tons. Small adjustments, if made before three days from now, can be used to strike any area of the planet within these boundaries."

 **19:09:45 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "And in addition, we shall also make a new impactor. Shiplords Russik and Tpashan, your ships have been rendered unsuitable for planetary landings due to damage from Zhōngguó, if I am not mistaken."

 **19:10:22 [Shiplord Russik]:** "Well, yes, Exalted Fleetlord-"

 **19:10:24 [Shiplord Tpashan]:** "Are to say that we must abandon our own ships, so they can be scuttled and used as glorified bullets, Exalted Fleetlord?"

 **19:10:40 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "One bullet, actually. And not all of the ships; just every scrap of load-bearing structure, heat shielding, and the fusion drives. The fithp will handle that; we will use the fusion drives to accelerate the mass to a good fraction of c, and strike at the same time as we drop the Foot on the Tosevites."

 **19:11:12 [Shiplord Kirel]:** "And when and where are these impactors to be used, Exalted Fleetlord? Even if we successfully deploy them, any surviving Tosevite powers will surely retaliate with every explosive metal bomb left in their disposal."

 **19:11:33 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "Not if we show the futility of the struggle. There is only so far even the Tosevites can bend before they break; even if it takes the death of billions, they will eventually surrender. To do that, we shall make an example of their mightiest not-empires. Shiplord Naka, you are stationed in Bangui, are you not?"

 **19:12:09 [Shiplord Naka]: "** Yes, Exalted Fleetlord."

 **19:12:21 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "If you were to make a conservative estimate, how many males would be required to keep our holdings in Africa under control?"

 **19:12:31 [Shiplord Naka]:** "It would only take five million males, according to computer estimates. That is assuming, however, that the five remaining not-empires in the region simply guard their own borders."

 **19:13:01 [Shiplord Naka]:** "And what of the other regions? Shiplords in those regions, I wish for a moderate estimate of the required malepower."

 **19:13:12 [Shiplord Tessrek]:** "Er... I would say... perhaps eight million in the Middle East."

 **19:13:25: [Shiplord Shakampa]:** "I would need a million for Choson."

 **19:13:40 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "Very well. Let's assume that twelve million males are required for the occupation. That leaves twenty million males left to fight. It is enough for the plan I have devised. In four days. The Foot will strike the deepest part of the Gulf of Mexico, while our own impactor strikes the Western Mediterranean. While the Tosevites reel from the effects, we will begin a kinetic bombardment using the _Thuktun Flishithy_ , striking railgun batteries and missile silos. Advisor, how feasible would this be?:

 **19:14:22 [Advisor Pastempeh-keph]:** "We would not be able to cripple their infrastructure like we have done in Zhōngguó or Indiya, but it would be enough to clear landing zones."

 **19:14:44 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "That is satisfactory. In the aftermath of those attacks, we will deposit our remaining males into the regions. Twelve million for America, and eight million for Europe. Under such onslaughts, they will not last long."

 **19:15:13 [Shiplord Kirel]:** "But Exalted Fleetlord, America is an untested enemy. They managed to prevent landings in their own territory, and intelligence reports indicate an army that is only rivaled by Russiya in mechanization. America-"

 **19:15:20 [Fleetlord Straha]:** "Will _break_. Its cities will _crumble_. And when the rest of the filthy Tosevites witness the destruction of their mightiest not-empire and its allies, they will surrender. If not, well... the Tosevites have adopted a saying amongst themselves during this war. "Earth will break before we do!" they scream. We shall put that to the test, as we send rock after rock their way. Either way, Tosev III _will_ belong to the Race, even if the Colonization Fleet shall settle upon the bones of billions."

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jäger I**

 _Ret. General Heinrich Jäger II lives in a small house on the outskirts of Munich, Germany. He greets me with a mug of homebrewed ale at the entrance, then sits me down at a small table in the dining room. He is rather gaunt and gangly in his years, when compared to the wartime photos.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, General. I know you're rather busy, so I'll jump right to it. As the German Military Representative to NATO during the war, you were directly involved in preparations before Footfall. When did you first realize that there would be a coming attack?  
**  
A: Very shortly after the former Fleetlord surrendered in France. I was stationed in Brunssum at the time, but I was quickly made aware of the fact; I believe three hours before he actually landed. I had to convene with the others on how to handle the presence of eighty thousand Lizards in the middle of France, but we managed to handle the situation without much trouble; the force was split into various POW camps in France, England, and my own country.

Atvar himself was brought to Brussnum, where he was practically squeezed dry of every last drop of knowledge he had. Troop strengths, logistics, strategy... I listened in on the preliminary questioning he was subjected to by the Supreme Commanders.

 **Q: What did he tell you?  
**  
A: Enough to make us shit our pants. That Straha had assumed control of the fithp, which explained the strange reports of digit ships moving near Race starships near orbit, and that he'd promised the Shiplords a quick solution to both America and our own nations. The Americans put their fi' on the phone, and had him corroborate some details with Atvar, and it only confirmed our worst fears.

We'd been made aware of the Foot by the US three days ago, but that was a more... _broad_ sense of concern. We had no idea where the asteroid was actually going to land; for all we knew, it could've been aimed at the Bay of Bengal, or one of the ice caps in order to wreak ecological havoc. There'd been some evacuations in low-lying coastal areas, but we were unwilling to waste precious resources on a possibly unwarranted frenzy.

When we realized that the Foot was being directed at either _us,_ or at the US, however, sent us into a near panic. We now had to deal with the possibility of having entire nations washed away in a deluge unseen since the Cretaceous. And not just that, but possibly a direct invasion by the Race, backed up by a species that fought smarter than they did.

 **Q: What kind of preparations were made?  
**  
A: The safety of civilians took the highest priority. We began massive evacuations of the coasts and low-lying areas, even areas that could be hundreds of kilometers away from the waves. Thankfully, we had the Alps, the Pyrenees, and other mountain ranges that could serve as safe ground for civilians. We also began to pull our forces away from the coast as well, and began to prepare emergency reserves. Rationing went into effect immediately.

This had been something we'd been considering ever since we first realized that our planet was to be invaded. Many at the time liked to joke about military forces in Europe, saying that the United States did everything for us. Those same people seem to forget that we spent forty years preparing for an all-out war with the Soviets, a war that would most likely see cities erupt in nuclear flame, or see entire nations razed to the ground.

We did not forget the lessons of the Cold War as we prepared for the invaders, and raised armies of millions during those six years. Much of our preparations had been made by Switzerland for the Cold War, and we used them where applicable. We'd placed countless pillboxes and minefields across the continent, bombs in bridges, hidden cannons, and enough SAMs to make a Russian blush. We were ready to fight a war where entire countries could be considered expendable.

However, only four days of preparation is still only four days. Even as the Americans shipped millions of their own people out of Florida and set up refugee camps in the Appalachians with a fervor never seen before, even as we prepared for nuclear scorched earth, I feared that it wasn't enough time.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **EAS Television Broadcast: January 10th, 2021**

 _A CIVIL AUTHORITY HAS ISSUED AN ALERT - STANDBY  
_  
" **We interrupt our programming. This is a national emergency. The following message is transmitted at the request of the United States Government. This is not a test. An imminent alien invasion of American soil is expected within the next forty-eight hours. Due to the uncertain facts of this invasion, all residents of the United States should seek and prepare to take shelter immediately.** "

 _CIVIL DANGER WARNING_

" **Standby for the President of the United States** ".

"My fellow Americans, this marks the first time that the Emergency Alert System has been used, and it is for good reason. We have every reason to believe that the Empire of the Race has pushed an asteroid into a collision course with the Gulf of Mexico, approximately three hundred miles from American soil. The mass of this asteroid is estimated to be nineteen billion metric tons, and will strike with an energy of twenty three teratons. That is nearly a fifth as powerful as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs."

"When this asteroid impacts the ocean, the initial flash will ignite most materials within a hundred miles, and cause severe burns within four hundred. The air blast will heavily damage anything within five hundred miles of the point of impact. Citizens within the contiguous United States are to expect tremors of varying intensity, as well as ejecta that could rain down as far north as Kansas."

"However, what the American people must be most concerned about are the waves that will be created by the impact. It is estimated that the waves may possibly reach a height of half a mile before reaching the shore, and may travel as far as as five hundred miles inland. This wave will be traveling at a speed of approximately five hundred miles an hour; do not attempt to outrace the wave."

"It is strongly advised to find high ground; we have already set up a multitude of shelters in the Appalachian mountains and the Rockies. If you cannot make it to these shelters in time, call the number that is listed in the alert. If you call, the authorities will direct you to the designated high ground in your region. Even those not in danger of the waves must take shelter from the eject and possible meteorological effects that follow the impact."

"I will not lie to you, America. This is the single gravest threat we, as a nation, and as a species, have ever faced. We face an enemy with refined weaponry and numbers that may exceed our own. However, we will not stand alone, even in this darkest hour, and we will not capitulate to the demands of an empire that despises our freedom. Even if they cannot help us in battle, the rest of the world stands behind us, and we will be their hammer as we break this final attempt to bring human civilization to an end."

"America has never fallen under the yoke of a foreign king, and never will, even if said king is the Emperor of three worlds. This upcoming battle with prove beyond a doubt our right to exist as a culture, and the integrity of our values of equality, justice, and the freedom to control our own future. We will prove this to the enemy when they come to take our freedom away from us. I ask that every one of you put faith in our armed forces, and know that we will fight with our last breath to ensure that this nation will not perish from the Earth."

"May God have mercy upon them, for we won't. Good night, and best of luck."

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Perkins I**

 _Humberto Perkins is one of the younger individuals to be interviewed; as of the time of this publication, he is only twenty seven years old. He greets me at the Mississippi Memorial Park, located in the new capital of Endurance. It is many of identical Memorial Parks scattered across the planet, all with the same centerpiece: a brass globe of the Earth twenty feet across, with the names of all known victims of the war in the region etched into the surface._

When I arrive at the park, he is calmly studying the globe with a magnifying glass, reading the various names listed. He waves me over, and the review begins.

 **Q: Thank you for your time, Mr. Perkins. It is rare to find a unique perspective like yours, of someone who was raised into a post-discovery world, and yet old enough to remember life before the war.  
**  
A: No problem, man. When I heard you were doing this interview, I kinda leapt at the chance. It's not every day I get to talk about my weird childhood.

 **Q: Unique is a better word. Now, let's start at the beginning. What was life like for you, before the war?  
**  
A: Well, my mom and aunt raised me, along with my older sister. My mom worked a deli, and my aunt was a waitress. At least, that was before the ships were discovered; I actually don't remember that time. Earliest I recall, it was already a year into getting ready for the war. Kelly -uh, my sister- she enlisted in the Air Force, and my aunt ended up getting a job at a weapons factory instead of waitressing.

It's kinda weird, growing up in a place that's preparing for a war. Especially with how curious we are as kids. I remember asking my mom what Aunt Callie did at the factory all the time, and she just said "to keep you safe". I didn't know what she meant by that.

In kindergarten, I remember having to do annoying drills in school, along with the fire alarm stuff. It'd just be a normal day at school, then suddenly some bell would start ringing, and the teacher would get up and say "The aliens are coming, kids. Stay together and follow me to the shelter." Then we'd spend half an hour learning how to put on a gas mask, or how to call for help in case one of us got sick or hurt.

I also remember asking what an alien was. This wasn't like before, when they used to put aliens in kids' cartoons or on cereal boxes. I guess the government was afraid of confusing children about the actual dangers, so I'd never actually realized the _concept_ of aliens before school started.

Me and my friends would tell each other things about the aliens after school, trying to convince each other that we _totally_ knew what an alien was. Cozzy said they were "commies", according to his pa. Mini thought they were like gators, but they flew about with bird wings, which was why the teachers told us to keep an eye on the skies if the bell rang.

After a while, though, I slowly began to learn the truth. My mom told me that the aliens were like people, but from another planet like Mars, and that they wanted to talk our homes from us. I had no idea why someone from Mars would want my shitheap of a house, but I didn't ask too much about it.

Then the teachers started pulling up informational videos about what aliens were, and why we had to do the drills. We still didn't know what they looked like. I remember having nightmares about them, and each time they looked like whatever else scared me at the time. Sometimes they looked like gators, like Mini said, and sometimes they looked like spiders. One time, they looked like Mrs. Torpey, that old bitch.

My mom used to hold me when I woke up crying, and said that it was going to be alright. Kelly was going to whomp their butts in her plane, and we'd be fine.

 **Q: How did the start of the war change things for you?  
**  
A: I remember the teacher pulling the tv into class, so we could watch the news on Landing Day. It was... I don't know how exactly to explain how I felt, when I saw shaky footage of Chinese pilots dogfighting killercraft, and found myself wondering if these were actually aliens.

And then we got to actually see them. Race. Rabotevs. Hallessi. And then I had no idea what to think. They didn't look like people, but they didn't look like my nightmares, either. We kept on watching the news, but there was too much going over my head at the time. I mean, I was only seven at the time. I was just wondering when Kelly was going to fly over and whomp their butts.

After all, it wasn't like they were actually here. The aliens were still just things on TV. School still went on, my mom still went to work, and the bus still ran.

 **Q: What happened when the President gave his emergency address to the nation?  
**  
A: I was actually at home at the time, watching an episode of SpongeBob. I remember my mom stopping cold when that awful sound came out of the TV, and then she grabbed me tight when the President made his address. Her skin got all clammy as she held me, and I didn't know how to feel; she was acting more scared than I'd ever seen her. Hell, I'd never actually seen her scared before.

I remember her rushing to the room to get some stuff, and then she handed me my backpack, the one she made me back after Landing Day, with my toys and food inside. Then, she and I began walking towards the evacuation zone. The sirens were wailing in that awful drone, so loud that I covered my ears. I was scared by everything, and I started crying, and so my mom ended up carrying me the last half mile.

 **Q: What was the evacuation zone like?  
**  
A: Loud. There must've been a thousand people there already, all yelling and pushing at each other as they tried to jostle towards the helicopters and planes and other things the army had brought over. I saw people waving money at the soldiers, or just cursing at them. The roads all around were clogged with cars, honking at each other, and I think I saw some tanks trying to herd traffic.

I've heard things were smoother in other places. But Mississippi was not one of them.

 **Q: How did you get evacuated?  
**  
A: The soldiers saw that my mom didn't really have anything, which met the weight limits that half the people ignored. They let us through, along with everyone else who'd obeyed. I remember some old guy with a pot belly actually trying to grab me as we squeezed past, reaching into his pocket, then a soldier smashed his nose in with the butt of his rifle and fired a shot into the air. I was crying by the time we were loaded into the C-130.

 **Q: Was your aunt there? You haven't mentioned her.  
**  
A: That was another thing that upset me. Aunt Callie got evacuated by the army ahead of us; they needed workers like her to help support the coming war. Of course, I didn't know that; I just knew that Aunt Callie was nowhere in sight.

My mom just held me tight as we took off, and kept on whispering that things were gonna be alright. I fell asleep before we arrived at the camp in the Appalachians.

 _He sighs.  
_  
And that's how I survived Footfall, I guess. No grand escape story, no stealing a helicopter and flying north. Just lucky enough to meet the weight limits. And that's why I'm here, looking at this thing, instead of being one of those half million names on it.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Tavares I**

 _Miguel Machado Paulo Tavares lives in Cancun, in an isolated villa that overlooks the water. He is a tall, wiry man, with a long white mustache that he keeps curled. He invites me to drink coffee with him on the porch of his villa. As we sit down to buttered bread and heavily sweetened java, I begin the interview in earnest.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for your time. Do you prefer to go by President Tavares, or simply Mr. Tavares?  
**  
A: Miguel will suffice. I haven't been the President of anything for sixteen years, now.

 **Q: Very well. Miguel, the role Mexico played in the war is often overlooked. Why would you say that is the case?  
**  
A: Well, I'd say that is mainly due to the fact that we didn't see much combat, when compared to many other nations. We didn't suffer like the Chinese and Indians did, or send massive armies across the continent like Russia did. The ways we participated in the war were less noticeable.

 **Q: Yet, you'd say Mexico played an important role in the war, ultimately.  
**  
A: Yes. I would not call it 'vital', as that is too strong a word. What the Americans did was vital. What China did was vital. Us? What we did was merely important. After all, there was only so much we could do. We were not some global superpower, or industrial powerhouse. When we realized war was coming in six years, we had to scramble to prepare our forces, and ready the nation. That meant expanding our army and navy to the likes of which we had never done before.

The Americans and Brazilians were helpful in that regard, especially after we signed the mutual defense pact. We received economic help, special trade deals, weapons... it was most needed when the Americans warned us of the coming Foot. For us, and for them.

 **Q: How did the evacuation plans for your own country differ from the United States?  
**  
A: It was not quite as dire for us. We had millions of people living along the coast of the Gulf, yes, but it was nothing like America. The bulk of our country's population lived in mountainous terrain, and for many of the millions at risk of the waves, safety was less than a hundred miles away.

Of course, that still meant the largest evacuations Mexico had ever seen. We had nearly a million men on the job, working evacuation routes to shelters in the mountains, or helping bring civilians who didn't have any other means of getting away from the coast in time. However, nearly ninety percent of the evacuations were finished by the second day.

 **Q: How was that even possible?  
**  
A: There are many armchair strategists out there, constantly listing the difficulties of large-scale evacuations, but never realizing that they can be overcome. Perhaps it is an obsession with logistics, coupled with a distaste for inaccurate media that depicts evacuations as impossibly fast and efficient. However, in the process of doing so, they seem to go too far in the other direction.

Evacuations may not be easy, but they are not impossible. People seem to forget that even pre-war evacuations could be done at a rate that many would deem impossible if in a book. I remember reading that half a million people were evacuated from New York City on September 11th, by boat, in less than nine hours. And that was on a peacetime footing, without any preparation. Even the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a nation that still used Soviet-era equipment when the Race invaded, once managed to evacuate three hundred thousand people in three days.

We, on the other hand, we were prepared for difficult tasks. We had _six years_ to prepare for worst-case scenarios. We'd invested nearly a quarter of our GDP into building shelters, preparing emergency stockpiles of food and fuel, modernizing our energy and communications, and expanding our army. We ran drills, and had our think tanks overlooking plans for possible exoduses from any part of the nation.

 **Q: Is that why you also began helping the US and various Caribbean nations?  
**  
A: Partially. Another reason was that we could spare much of our navy to the task, as they couldn't do much to help our land-based evacuations to the mountains, and already needed to leave before the waves came. It was not harmful to our own operations to help Cuba and Haiti with their own evacuations. It was better for our sailors to help other nations, instead of simply waiting idle for the Foot to hit.

 **Q: Then what about the assistance you lent to the United States?  
**  
 _Tavares sips his coffee for a moment, eyes narrowed with concentration.  
_  
A: I was criticized for that decision, back home. Many questioned why I would divert manpower and planes to helping people in Texas and Louisiana evacuate, when my nation was about to face the biggest catastrophe it'd ever face.

That, I feel, has many answers. Firstly, we'd almost evacuated the entire coast by the time I ordered the army and navy to assist with evacuations in the American south. Secondly, I knew that if it was true that an invasion bigger than any other in history was coming to this continent, then it'd fall almost entirely on America's shoulders to fight. Compared to the might of the US at the time, Mexico was a side note. Every enemy engaged on trying to fight the US was one less coming our way.

However, there was another reason, one less grounded in such shortsighted ideas as realpolitik.

The United States didn't have to warn us of the Foot. It could have left us out to dry when the waves came and used us to divert Race forces expecting easy landings, like a man wounding his friend to escape wolves. But we were warned, nevertheless, and millions of my people were saved. It realized that before such a threat, we were all allies, regardless of any past grievances.

I knew we couldn't get everyone out. I knew that my contributions were rather small, when compared to the massive mobilization the United States was undergoing.

But we had signed a pact to help each other in case an invasion came, and I was going to honor it.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Perkins II**

 _Perkins sits down at one of the benches at the park and closes his eyes, letting the sun shine on his face._

A: I'd been at the camp up in Kentucky for three days. I missed home, but it wasn't too bad. My mom and I had a cot to sleep on, a shower, and food, even if they were awful-tasting rations. The common bunker in the middle had a movie projector, and on the first two nights the guards put something on for us and the others. I guess it was good, to keep us from thinking too much about what was coming. I still asked my mom what my aunt and sister were doing, but she kept on deflecting the topic.

Then, on the fourth day, I was walking with my mom to the cafeteria when there was a streak of light across the twilight sky, followed by a faint flash past the mountains, which almost seemed to light up the clouds.

The guards suddenly shouted at us to get to the bunkers. My mom picked me up as soon as she heard the order, and dashed into the bunker. Before the doors got closed, I could see everyone else running to their own bunkers, or to whatever shelter was closest.

I remember holding on to my mom as she sat down on the bed, bawling my eyes out. I think it was a few minutes later that the bunker seemed to rumble gently, and a few minutes after that I heard a few things hit the roof. _Crack. Crack. Snap._ Probably all that debris that came down from the impact.

Then the airblast hit half an hour, all with one _whoosh_ that sounded like God's clap, and I just started screaming. My mom rocked me a little, whispering in my ears, and some of the others inside tried to keep me calm, too.

 **Q: How long were you in the bunker for?**

A: Probably half an hour after the airblast. The radio crackled and gave us the all clear, and we were let out by the guards.

By God, everything had changed. It'd been a beautiful, clear evening before the impact, but when we left the bunker, the sky was dark grey, almost black. None of the trees had leaves left, except for the evergreens, and even they lost a few.

Then the rain started coming down, and it was actually _hot_. It wasn't like the cold rain I'd experienced once, when my mom brought me to visit family up in Minnesota. This time, it felt like one of the thunderstorms back home, like I'd stepped into a warm shower.

The guards got us some rations from the cafeteria, then told us to head back into the bunker until the rain let up.

That was it. We'd survived Footfall. I didn't know at the time, heading back to the bunker, that things were far from over, though.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Kilopaki I**

 _Kilopaki, formerly known as Gil Eastwick, lives in a small shack by the beach in Honolulu, where he teaches aspiring young surfers. Despite holding the title 'God-Emperor of the Waves' amongst the surfing community, he holds one of the lowest fees in the state. My impression of him is a well-built man of average height, with salt-and-pepper hair and a flat face._

He greets me at his shack, still wet after some surfing, and excitedly answers my questions.

 **Q: So, you were living in New Orleans at the time of Footfall, yes?**

A: Yeah, I was doin' a factory job in town, like, makin' cars and shit for the Army. I signed up when I heard about the aliens, but they didn't lemme in. Somethin' about failin' the eye cool test, or somethin'. I dunno. At least I still got to catch the waves on the weekends.

 **Q: The waves... in Louisiana.**

A: Yeah, man! If you can surf there, you can surf anywhere. Y'know, like in Karate Kid. _Poorly imitates Japanese accent._ Wax on, wax off. Once I mastered the waves there, I was gonna make it big in Cali.

 **Q: Moving on. Why didn't you evacuate the region after the President announced that the Foot was coming?**

A: Dude, there was nooooo way I was gonna get out. They were lettin' kids and families first, and I knew a bachelor like me was gonna be last. I thought it'd be good to let some old lady take my seat or somethin'.

I kinda regretted it when I woke up on the day the rock came down, and the city was practically empty. I guess it's like when you're at a roller coaster place, and there's a huge line, and so you go to just get a burger and shit, and then you see the line's empty, but the park's almost closed.

Total bummer, dude. I was thinkin' about just raidin' an ice cream place and eatin' like a pig.

Then I remembered the President sayin' somethin' about how the rock was gonna make some mile-high wave. And I felt, like, some sorta godly inspiration.

I decided if I was gonna die, it was gonna be by riding, like, the biggest wave ever. So, I grabbed my board and started paddlin' to a good spot, and started waitin'.

 **Q: What happened next?**

A: I guess I missed the big flash gettin' my board, because I didn't get, like, burned or shit when I went out. Then I thought to myself, "Hey, there's probably gonna be a shockwave any minute," so I dove down and waited a few minutes. Sure enough, a huge blast went over the water, like _hwupah!,_ and the water was all choppy. I swam back up, grabbed my board, and waited for the big wave. I could see a huge cloud rising into the air, like God's boner or somethin'.

 **Q: Wait, you knew when to go under for the shockwave? And it _worked_? How the hell did you figure... never mind. When did the wave come?**

A: I dunno, I don't wear a watch, 'cause I don't think you should put a schedule on the world. It wasn't long. I saw the wave comin' up, pushin' some clouds out of the way as it started hittin' shallow waters. It was _big_. Like, _really_ big. It looked taller than some of the mountains I saw when I went hikin'.

 _He closes his eyes, strangely serene in comparison to his previously energetic nature._

I knew I'd found my destiny.

So I paddled towards it, and managed to get on the crest before it started breakin'. Man, I felt like the king of the world, watching the ground comin' towards me from the top of the wave.

 **Q: Breaking?**

A: Y'know, when the bottom's goin' slower and the top, and the top just kinda falls over. Happens when somethin' hits the wave and, like, makes it lose kenny energy or somethin'. I saw parts of the wave break when it hit buildin's, or some of the hills and forests and shit. I was lucky, dude; I was on the part that lasted the longest.

 **Q: And how long was that?**

A: Long time, dude. I think I saw a Mississippi sign before I started gettin' really drowsy from tryin' to stay on top. I managed to hold on until the wave started breakin', and then I just, like, let the world move me where it wanted.

Next thing I knew, dude, I was hanging upside down in a tree with a broken arm, and some army guys were poking me to see if I was alive. I got pulled down, and they asked me how the hell I ended up in Nashville. They didn't believe me, until I showed 'em the GoPro I had on my head.

Didn't have much time to show off, though. The rain was comin' down all hot, and the soldiers said somethin' about landin's. I got sent to a army hospital after that, and that was how my night ended.

 **Q: And that's how you got your title.**

 _He pats his chest and grins._

God-Emperor of the Waves, dude. But I guess that's not much when the world was in danger. My story's cool and all, I guess, but the real story's with all the dudes and dudettes who fought the good fight.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Emmaunelli I**

 _Nina Emmaunelli is a small, wizened woman, with grey hair and deep wrinkles in her face. Her family retains a long history of farming on the island of Corsica, and she regales me her story in Bastia, the island's largest city._

A: Leaving behind the farm with my husband and three boys had to be one of the hardest decisions in my life. We had to move quickly, if we wished to stay safe, and so we took almost nothing with us from our home as we began the trek to the shelters in the mountains. We drove as did many others, but the winding roads were very poor for such an evacuation, and the guard had us leave our car behind.

For the rest of the trek, we had to walk, which was nearly ten miles. My boys wailed the whole way, as they were young, and the mountainous terrain was punishment on their feet. Many others walked alongside us, carrying luggage on their backs, or dragging it behind them if they were tired.

Nevertheless, we made it to safety, with time to spare. The guard shepherded us into shelters built into Monte Cinto, towards the higher peaks. However, these shelters were poor, compared to many; few thought that great calamity would befall us, of all places.

I remember seeing a great streak of light across the night sky, and a false sunset beyond the horizon. We had to duck into the shelters before the airblast could come, but then many of us started pouring out to see the waves.

 _Diu me,_ the sight of the wave. It was like a wall of water, taller than any building I had ever seen. It moved with a deceptive speed, due to its size, but we realized its power when we saw it hit the shores.

Towns, washed away like they were not even there. I never felt such relief as when I saw the wave finally break, after climbing the foothills of our island's mountains. I remember smelling the seaspray even from where I was, as the water washed around the mountains, making islands out of the peaks.

Then the rain came, hotter than any I'd felt, and I watched the waters recede over the course of hours, dragging over the land like fingers, pulling buildings and cars and people with them. When they finally returned to the sea, almost everything around was gone, stripped clean. The mountains had spared most of the island, but that did not mean we had not suffered.

And yet, even then, I knew that our suffering would be a trifle compared to that of millions of others.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Saeed III**

 _Saeed has a tray of Moroccan mint tea brought in, and slowly pours a pair of cups for us. He takes a sip of the frothy drink, then sets it back down._

A: Where was I? I don't think I'll ever forget it.

I was flying a mission somewhere near Tunis, along with the rest of my squadron. Our job was to make sure the skies were clear as the evacuations continued into the Atlas mountains, and to report any breaks in evac lines if we saw them. The transportation infrastructure was nowhere near that of the Western powers, but thankfully the mountains were far closer and more omnipresent; they would be our greatest help.

I was three hours into the mission when I saw that damned flash of light beyond the horizon, and I realized the attack had begun.

 **Q: What did you do then?**

A: Aside from praying to Allah that I'd make it out alive, I ordered the squadron to make an emergency landing at Soltane Airfield, an old WWII airbase the Americans had built. We made it with ten minutes to spare, before the weakened airblast came over and stripped a few panels from the planes.

As soon as that was over, I ordered a flight back to Constantine, so we could be better prepared for the coming battle. From our vantage point, I could see some of the devastation the waves had wrought on the coast. The majority of the population was safe, but we'd lost two capital cities right then and there, washed out into the Mediterranean.

Already I could see the clouds approaching, promising to bring not-so-soft rains. By Allah, I'd never thought I'd see violent downpours in the Sahara...

 **Q: What did you mean by coming battle? I thought it was known at the time that the target of the coming invasion was Europe, and not Northern Africa.**

A: Hmm? True. But I knew that there was no way we would sit idle as Europe faced its darkest hour since the Second World War. The Allies had helped fight a deadly enemy on our own soil, eighty years past; it was only right that we return the favor.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi V**

 _Joshi cleans her hands after finishing her meal, and we leave the café together. She looks at the sky for a while, then motions for me to continue the interview._

 **Q: Did they let you observe Footfall?**

A: Only two hours or so after the fact. The Breakers decided to visit us with a telescreen; they felt it was right that we see what was happening, just as when my own home was destroyed. From their body language, it seemed that they hadn't bothered to ask permission to show us, either.

 **Q: What did you see?**

A: All of it, really; they showed us the impacts in both the Gulf, and in the Mediterranean. Of course, they had to speed it up, so we didn't have to wait for hours to see the waves hit.

I remember seeing a flash in the Gulf, like the world's largest camera going off. Immediately, I could see specks of orange in the Caribbean and Yucatan. Fires, caused by the thermal radiation. The fireball of the impact seemed to swell like an infected boil in the Gulf, and all around I saw random streaks of light over the American south and parts of Mexico.

 **Q: Secondary debris caused by the impact, along with water reentering the atmosphere.**

A: Yes.

 _She closes her eyes._

I remember holding onto Chris as we watched the waves; they moved so strangely, due to the ocean floor distorting them. I never thought I'd see a wave big enough to push _clouds_ out of the way. I asked him if he had family living there, and he told me they lived in Wisconsin. That meant very little to me, considering how little I knew of American geography at the time.

That didn't keep him from becoming tense under my embrace as we watched the waters hit America and Mexico, rapidly moving inland. I could see the waves break against the mountains in Mexico, stopping it mercifully short, but the waters were less forgiving elsewhere. I saw the Gulfland region in Texas go under, and saw all of Louisiana disappear, along with most of Florida.

The Yucatan's continental shelf spared Cuba the worst; I only saw half the nation disappear. The smaller Caribbean nations were not so lucky.

The worst had to be the Mississippi river. The waves traveled furthest up its watershed, swallowing up almost half of its namesake state and Arkansas, only stopping shy of Illinois.

Then we saw the same happen to Europe, all over again. We saw the waves smash against the Atlas mountains, and breathed sighs of relief as Corsica and Sardinia spared Italy with their own ranges. Still, it was horrifying to watch as the waves swept into France, and essentially made the Iberian peninsula into an island.

Once we'd seen enough of the immediate effects, the Breakers showed us what Earth looked like at the moment.

 _She shakes her head._

I didn't believe it at first. Earth was _white_. As in, it looked like God's personal snowball. The entire planet was covered in clouds, swirling far more quickly than I'd ever seen before.

 **Q: How did you react?**

A: I screamed at the Breakers, called them every curse in the book. They just took it silently, then said that the Herdmaster wanted Chris with him, as to 'send a message'.

I remember going to grab something, but then Chris just silently walked away with them. I knew why he did it, to protect us from any possible retribution, but that didn't make me feel any better. I just remember curling up into a ball, and trying to will everything out of mind.

Then I looked up, and saw flashes over parts of that unbroken cloud cover, and I realized those were digit ships and Race starships going in.

 _She rubs her mouth tiredly._

In Hinduism, we have a great deluge, very much like the flood of Abrahamic faiths. And like in that faith, the deluge marked the beginning of our world, as Shraddhadeva Manu restarted civilization once the waters receded.

Well, a great flood had come again, and I feared that there would be no rebuilding after.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jäger II**

 _Jäger refills his mug of ale, then continues speaking._

A: We managed to get most of the population out of the way, but that still meant a good six million dead, as well catastrophic damage to infrastructure along the coasts and in southern France. The storms made communication difficult; in some parts, they had to fall back to _telegraphs_.

However, within eight hours of Footfall we had a good grasp on the, er, tactical situation.

 **Q: How bad?**

A: Bad. In addition to the impact, the bastards had begun to bombard the everloving schieße out of the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, with a scattered hit to railguns in France and my own nation. It softened the ground up enough for landings in Clermont-Farrand, Gibraltar, and Sicily. Estimates ranged anywhere from five to ten million.

On our side, the beating had wiped out a quarter of our armor, which got worse in the landing zones. Our airforce was more-or-less intact, but there were concerns that the fithp would negate it. Still, we had a good five million soldiers and thousands of pieces of equipment to fight back with. Communications were still working, and we had the home field advantage.

This was the war we had prepared for, and we were not planning on disappointing the enemy.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager III**

 _Yeager produces a map of the United States, and points at various red marks, surrounded by a bright blue line._

A: Seventeen million dead across the Gulf. Catastrophic damage to our infrastructure in the affected areas. Twelve Ow gun stations destroyed, along with thirteen missile silos. A third of the country lost power.

Landings in Dallas, Little Rock, and Montgomery. All in all, they shat out twelve million troops in less than twelve hours, and began to set up anti-missile and anti-air defenses almost immediately, to try and render our airforce useless.

 _His face hardens._

The bastards didn't know what was going to hit them.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Ten: Footfall_**


	11. Chapter 11

**Final Demand for Surrender, as delivered by Christopher Daniels. January 18th, 2021**

 _The video begins, showing the interior of the_ _ **127th Emperor Hetto**_ _. Seated before the camera is Christopher Daniels; Traoré and Larsen can be seen out of focus, facing cameras of their own. In the center of the bridge floats Fleetlord Straha, flanked by Advisor Pastempeh-keph and Loremaster Fistarteh-thuktun._

The Fleetlord speaks to the three humans in Race-tongue, and Daniels clears his throat. He begins to blink at unusual intervals as he speaks, and the others can be heard speaking in various languages.

"On the behalf of Straha, Exalted Fleetlord of the Race Conquest Fleet, I deliver to the people of Earth a message. The Exalted Fleetlord wishes to inform humanity that the dropping of the Foot was but a small sample of the power of the Race. The Race can send more asteroids to our planet whenever it feels the need to, and _wherever_ it needs to. Humanity is powerless to stop these attacks, and no nation is safe from them."

 _Daniels' blinking spells out N-E-X-T-R-O-C-K-T-H-R-E-E-W-E-E-K-S._

"In addition, the Exalted Fleetlord desires to inform humanity that his army has already made landings in the United States and Western Europe, and that this force now the largest and most fearsome power on the planet. The fithp's weapons now serve the Race, and to challenge the Race now is to invite utter destruction."

 _The next set of blinking spells out U-S-E-C-L-O-U-D-S._

"However, the Fleetlord is a most generous one, and has decided in his exalted mercy to allow humanity a chance to avoid further bloodshed. The Race does not desire Earth's ruin, or the death of all humans, despite what your governments may say."

"More than eight hundred years ago, our world was discovered by the Race, and humanity was put on trial _in absentia_ before the 127th Emperor Hetto, after whom this bannership is named. Though humanity has advanced far more rapidly than the Race, or any of its subject worlds, the verdict has not changed."

"That verdict is a simple one. The Race has deemed that humanity is incapable of ruling itself. Its fractured governments slaughter millions in war. A small fraction have more wealth than they could reasonably use in a thousand years, while billions live in squalor. Humanity's false cultures drive its people to subjugating their fellows because of arbitrary reasons, such as their sex, the pigmentation of their skin, or the false gods they worship. Humanity is wracked with crime and corruption, creating needless suffering. Its reckless technological development and inability to consider the future have devastated the planet's environment, and repeatedly threatened to destroy it in atomic warfare."

"It is for reasons that the Race has decided that the only way to save humanity from itself is to rule it. Only by joining the Race, and becoming loyal subjects to the Emperor, that humanity can survive into the future. The Race has no divisions of class, race, or sex. We are all equal under the Emperor, venerated he is. Serious crime is nonexistent on the Race's worlds. Its skies are clean of pollutants, and the bellies of its subjects are never empty."

 _T-A-U-C-E-T-I._

"The fithp have already seen the light of the Emperor, and it this that gives the Exalted Fleetlord hope that humanity can do the same. It is that hope which drives the Fleetlord to offer these merciful terms to humanity."

 _C-U-L-T-U-R-E-D-E-A-T-H_

"First and foremost, the Fleetlord demands that all governments of Earth surrender their sovereignty to the Empire of the Race. All federal structures will be dissolved immediately, and the original constitutional documents will be ceremonially burned as one, to show that the Race is the only true government."

"In addition, Earth will undergo total disarmament, beginning with its nuclear arsenals and naval assets; the last remaining pieces of equipment will be surrendered for study. Personal firearms will be confiscated, without exception. If a single human resists violently, then everything within two kilometers of their home will be flattened. All space travel assets, too, will be dismantled; there will be no need for them."

"Local governments will retain a modicum of power, albeit ultimately answering to the Fleetlord, and only if they obey the laws of the Race. Private schooling shall be made illegal, and public schooling must follow certain guidelines. The only language to be taught is Race-tongue, and the study of human cultural works will be made forbidden. The children of humankind will learn the culture of the Race, and the Race only. Any other name for this planet aside from Tosev III is forbidden."

"Certain cultural works, especially pertaining to those of rebellion and alien invasion, are to be made illegal, and no new copies of _any_ human cultural works are to be made. The internet, too, will be purged of any such documents. All human religions are to be forbidden, and the destruction or repurposing of all places of worship is to be completed within ten years. The only being humanity shall worship is the Emperor, venerated he is."

"In addition, all fossil fuel use and production is to cease immediately. Humanity will use the clean technology of the Race, and will make efforts to help repair the newest world in the Empire."

 _B-U-T-W-I-L-L-D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-I-F-L-O-S-E_

"Fear not, humanity; not all that you know will be gone. In his exalted mercy, the Fleetlord has decided that humanity will be able to keep some of its laws. Marriage will not be made illegal, and only local human officials will need to wear the body paint of the Race. Day-to-day life will remain largely the same for many. Humanity's science, too, will not be destroyed. Instead, it will be repurposed for the sake of the Race, and the Emperor."

"The world will not end for you, humanity. You will still go to work, you will still have homes. You will not be slaves, but loyal subjects."

 _I-N-N-A-M-E-O-N-L-Y_

"However, the Fleetlord is aware that such a decision will require time to consider. As a gesture of mercy, he has given two allowances to humankind."

 _Daniels produces a sheet of paper, with a symbol similar to a red cross on it._

"This is a symbol of surrender, as used by the fithp before joining the Race. If you fly this banner over your homes, your farms, and your hospitals, the Fleetlord will not direct any attack to them. However, be warned: if any military force attempts to deceitfully use this symbol, then _every_ symbol will become a target of his wrath."

"In addition, the Fleetlord shall allow humanity two weeks in which to agree to these terms of surrender. However, be aware that the forces of the Race will not wait idle during this time, and will continue to expand its conquests until humanity acquiesces to the terms unconditionally."

 _G-U-N-T-O-H-E-A-D_

"Unfortunately, even the Fleetlord's mercy has limits. If Earth does not submit before the deadline put forth, then the forces of the Race will push forward without pause, and without a moment's consideration to whatever pleas of surrender come after. America will _break_. Its cities will be demolished, its monuments torn down, its populace slaughtered. In Europe as well, the blood of every last man, woman, and child will flood the shattered streets if it does not capitulate."

"Once the world sees the blackened bones of America and Europe, the Fleetlord will offer the surrender again, with a deadline of one week. If this is not met, he will send more asteroids to Earth, and will repeat the destruction of America and Europe upon the Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and the State of Japan. Then he will offer surrender, with a deadline of three days. If not met, he will destroy the Republic of India, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Republic of Indonesia, and all other not-empires within Southeast Asia."

"After that, he will offer a deadline of one day, and if that is not met, then he will destroy every last free nation on Earth. He has become aware of our warcry, that Earth will break before we do. He is willing to accept this painful decision, but would prefer a surrender."

 _G-E-N-O-C-I-D-E-I-N-C-A-P-T-U-R-E-D-T-U-R-F-T-O-O_

"The Fleetlord will now give you time to capitulate, and hopes that you will see reason."

 _E-W-B-B-W-D_

 _The video ends._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Ussmak I**

 _Though he is now a tractor-driver in the Race Free Zone, Ussmak was one of many landcruiser operators who participated in the invasion of Western Europe. He greets me at the entrance of his shack, rolling up in his wheelchair.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Driver Ussmak.  
**  
A: Let's dispense with false pleasantries, Tosevite. I'm not doing this because I'm some addled sympathizer like that Rabotev fuck. I just want to make sure you Tosevites don't forget the dung you put us through during the war.

 **Q: Very well, then. You were present at the Battle of Lyon. Would you care to detail your experience?  
**  
A: Fine.

 _Ussmak takes a deep breath.  
_  
I was a landcruiser gunner. My job was to point the turret at whatever the commander told me to, then blast it to smithereens. Pretty simple, when you get down to it. I didn't have to improvise on the go, like pilots or infantry males.

France was my first time on Tosev III, and it only confirmed the awful rumors I'd heard about the place. Cold and wet, especially thanks to the rain. The mud made the landcruiser break down a few times, and that was always a tense moment. From the reports we heard, it was like a bunch of Tosevites would spring out of nowhere whenever a squad or tank got stuck, and just pick everyone off.

It'd certainly explain the bodies we kept on finding, as we tried to slog our way through. It was like every square meter of that forsaken not-empire was covered in barbed wire or mines. Not to mention the hidden cannons they hid in abandoned houses or hillsides, waiting to blast some unsuspecting column of landcruisers. I didn't even _see_ a Tosevite for the first three days; I only saw their Emperor-forsaken traps, or the bodies they left.

 **Q: Why were you sent to Lyon?  
**  
A: Most of the landing force in France was heading up north to try and take Paris; that was a good three million males on the move, backed up by fithp weapons. Most of the Tosevite forces were at the lines there, slowing the advance. As a result, there was a relatively small force guarding Lyon, and so we were sent to take it.

 **Q: I didn't go well, I take it?  
**  
 _Ussmak lowers his jaw in mirth.  
_  
A: Aren't you a funny one? Of course it didn't go well. It went as well as trying to clean a beffel's teeth. They sent three hundred thousand of us to Lyon. Seventy thousand didn't make it in time for the battle; either they were too bogged down, or they were killed by Tosevite guerrilla tactics.

My crew and I were part of the first wave. We and about a hundred other landcruisers were sent down through Tarare to try and circumvent the mountains, as well as the brunt of Tosevite defenses. It was still not easy going. We had to push tons of your horrible cars out of the way so the twenty thousand infantry males could make their way through. We lost a few landcruisers from mines, and then your Emperor-forsaken tanks engaged us about thirty kilometers from Lyon.

 **Q: How did that go?  
**  
A: There were about sixteen or seventeen of them, coming out of the forest a good two kilometers away from us. They took out eight of ours before we could even bear our guns them.

I despised fighting Tosevite tanks, regardless of what European not-empire they came from. The fucking autoloaders were even more advanced than our own, which meant they could fire twice as fast as us, and your stupid composite armor shrugged off all but direct hits to the flanks. Oh, and there's the fact that you Tosevites spent so much time killing each other that you had all sorts of fancy tactics with your tanks, such as pulling back and using your superior range. My commander was constantly barking orders left and right as we tried to properly engage them without hitting ourselves.

By the time we destroyed _one_ , they'd destroyed _twenty_ of ours. We had to actually call down a fithp bombardment, and that wasn't easy, either. The damn clouds meant we had to make an educated guess, then send coordinates to orbit.

Well, we managed to get a few tanks with that, but the rest just disappeared back into the forest, probably to harass another column. We didn't even bother trying to chase after them.

By the time we started moving again, we heard reports that some of the Tosevites had fallen back, and my mood was actually starting to lift. If I'd linked the retreat with the fact that the wind was blowing towards us, I would've been worried.

That was when the low clouds started rolling in.

 **Q: Low clouds?  
**  
A: I didn't know what it was at the time; it was like a light fog, coming in towards us with the wind. I didn't know what it was; I just looked at it, wondering where it was coming from. I only realized things were terribly wrong when I started seeing the infantry males in front of us start heaving violently and collapsing. Thankfully, Skiru had the sense to shut us in as it started coming towards us.

I still remember the sound of infantry males banging on the hatch, screaming at us to let them in. Then, over a few minutes, the voices stopped one by one.

Didn't stop a little amount from coming in. I started feeling _terrible_ quick enough. I started drooling like crazy, and I found I had trouble breathing. Skiru had it worse; he fell to the floor, convulsing and foaming, coating the floor in... waste. It was when I tried to help him that I realized I could barely move my legs.

The rest of the crew tended to me; they knew Skiru was too far gone. It was Kistil's blunt thinking that made him inject a desalivating agent from the medkit; coincidentally, it contained atropine. And so, I managed to keep my life, if not control over my legs.

We waited an hour before peeking out of the landcruiser. Half of the surviving crews had already retreated back, leaving behind the infantry males.

 _Ussmak shudders.  
_  
Not a _single one_ of the infantry males survived the passing of the cloud. There were thousands of them, face down in mud, or just staring at the sky with blank eyes. It was like something out of my fucking worst nightmares.

There was no way we were going to keep forward, and wait for another cloud. We pushed a few landcruisers out of the way, and just fucking hauled stump back through the mountain pass.

By the time we started running back, the rear-view cameras recorded some Tosevites rolling in to make sure it'd worked. By the Emperor, the sight... Tosevites in black suits, their faces obscured by unnatural masks with hoses trailing into their bellies. They didn't look like Tosevites, especially as they started casually putting a round in anything that even twitched; they looked like _monsters_.

And then I realized something. There was no way even Tosevites could've learned how to make weapons tailored to our biology, and prepare suits to survive the gas.

 _He looks my way, jaw dropped in mirth.  
_  
This was something they'd used on themselves, and just decided to see if it'd work on us. And just like that, they casually killed two hundred thousand males in a single day.

That was when I knew we were never going to win this war. After all, if they were willing to use that sort of weapon on themselves, what sort of horrors were they ready to unleash on _us_?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Almeida I**

 _Carlos Luís Melo Almeida currently resides in a small home in Alcobaça, where he lives with his wife and four children. For the interview, he meets with me at entrance to the famous Mosteiro de Alcobaça. From our position, one can make out the newest monument, the Padrão dos Soldados, which commemorates the struggle that rocked the region twenty years ago.  
_  
 **Q: Bom dia, Senhor Almeida. Como está?  
**  
A: Estou bem. I'm flattered you bothered to greet me that way, but I've been a fluent English speaker for nearly eighteen years, now. I'll save you some trouble with the translation.

 **Q: Very well. Now, you served in the Portuguese Army as a Corporal when the war came, is that correct?  
**  
A: Yes. I was conscripted a good three years after the big discovery. I probably would've been conscripted earlier, but there just wasn't enough space beforehand.

 **Q: What do you mean?  
**  
A: Well, before the war, this was one of the most peaceful countries on Earth. Well, at least in terms of military matters. You could've stuffed the entire army into a football stadium, and still have plenty of room. Good for the economy, I guess, but not good when aliens are coming. I remember how crazy it was, back when the government was trying to get ready for war. They bought tanks from Germany and France on loan, and surplus planes from America and Brazil.

I remember my parents complaining that it was like the Estado Novo again, since almost every able-bodied person had to become a soldier, or otherwise support the war. My grandfather disagreed, probably because he'd actually been forced to fight in Angola. He knew the difference between forced militarization just to fulfill some colonist wet dream, and the real need to be ready.

I was terrified when I got conscripted. My grandfather used to tell me stories about the war, about how he'd seen heads on pikes and intestines strung along bushes. I feared I'd see the same thing. But, in the end, I think I was more terrified of seeing my home fall.

 **Q: What was the training like?  
**  
A: Probably pretty different from the training the bigger countries got. I mean... even with six years to train soldiers and make equipment, even with loans from the bigger countries... there was no way we were going to be able to fight a big stand-up war like China or America. Our country is just too tiny, and its population is just not big enough.

So, we did what we learned in Africa, and what we did in our own home soil against the Arabs and Napoleon - we trained in insurgent tactics. At the same time the government started following the Swiss example of hiding weapons and bunkers and putting bombs in bridges, we were taught guerrilla warfare. I learned how to make IEDs, and what were the best places to put them when fighting armor. We were taught how to dig traps and stay hidden.

Of course, we had no idea how successful it'd be; for all we knew, it could have been for nothing.

 **Q: So, you would say that the invasion from Gibraltar was what decided its effectiveness?  
**  
A: Oh, definitely.

 _We start walking into the Mosteiro. Almeida spends some time admiring the columns in the interior.  
_  
Thankfully, we were spared from the waves; all I felt on Footfall was a tremor and the rain. Of course, that relief was short-lived when they began hitting the more noticeable bases and airfields in the country, and we were told that the Camaleãos had landed in Gibraltar, backed up by the Elefantes. It got worse when we realized a large chunk of it was making a beeline to Lisboa. We had a quarter million soldiers in our army, but the rain made transport through our hilly country difficult, and a lot of our big guns had been taken out from orbit.

It was the kind of scenario we were expecting, the kind we had trained for. And so, I was sent here, in Alcobaça.

 **Q: Why here?  
**  
A: We were told that intelligence reports indicated that the aliens were making a two-pronged attack, to try and encircle Lisboa before going in for the kill. Alcobaça was a bit north of the capital; it'd be in their path.

 _He shakes his head.  
_  
I spent a frantic day digging out holes with my squad, places we could hide in or lay traps. Our older tanks, the M60s, they got buried up to the turret, which made them smaller targets. We planted mines in the bigger streets and set off trip wires all around the area, to let us know where they'd be coming in from. We had men with binoculars on the hills, scanning for where aircraft could be coming from.

We maybe had half a day after that to rest before they came in out of the rain. Our scouts estimated a good fifty thousand Camaleãos, as well as hundreds of their tanks. We had eighteen thousand, and if you didn't count the twenty tanks we buried, we had ten. Most of their aircraft passed us by; they were off to fight our own planes over the capital. A big mistake in retrospect.

 **Q: What was the combat like?  
**  
A: Well, the first thing that happened were the mines. As soon as the first few landcruisers went down, they decided to drive the tanks single-file, which made their troopmales vulnerable to sniper fire. From my little hole, I could hear the steady _crack crack crack_ of our scouts harassing their forces past the rain. Their helicopters responded by doing strafing runs over where they thought the snipers were, which had the nasty little effect of splitting them up.

That was where the Stingers came in. By the time they started pulling back, they'd lost a large number of their precious helicopters. I could actually see the missiles arcing towards them, from where I was hiding.

Now, normally a loss of air support is grounds for retreat, I'd imagine. But those aliens just kept on coming. Their tanks started rolling down the streets into the town proper, and that's when the fighting really began. I was in the second line of defense, a good half-kilometer from this here monastery.

 **Q: Did you see combat?  
**  
A: Yes. I was trained to use the Javelin, which meant I had the oh-so enviable position of being a tank-hunter. I started fulfilling that description when a column started heading down the main street.

We had one of our few tanks do a hit and run attack; the brave bastards drove up and shot two landcruisers, then hauled ass right into our clutches, where'd we buried two tanks. Once the landcruisers chased after it, I had to pop out of cover and shoot. I had my squadmates providing covering fire, but it was still nerve-wracking.

Still, I did my job. I managed to bust a landcruiser, then ran for cover when its friends pointed their guns at my position. I had to ditch the Javelin as I went into the hiding hole, then got ready for the troopmales sent after us.

 **Q: What was that combat like?  
**  
 _Almeida grimaces.  
_  
A: Close range, and brutal. We managed to shoot a few as they came down the alley, then ran into a building. After that came taking potshots at each other from around corners, and room clearing. They had more bodies to spare, and that meant eventually we got nasty. In some places, where we didn't have ample room to shoot, or just didn't have enough ammo, we started fighting hand to hand. I saw Francisco, a mountain of a private, actually pick up a Hallessi and break his back over his knee, like something out of a comic book.

Personally, I remember shanking a big Rabotev repeatedly, screaming at him as he frantically tried to cut my throat open.

 _He pulls his collar down, revealing faint scars on his neck.  
_  
They pulled out eventually. I'm not sure if it was because they were called back as their forces started retreating, or if it was because they realized just how out of their depths they were when it came to fighting us Big Uglies up close.

 **Q: When did the battle end?  
**  
A: The offensive pulled back an hour or two later. They tried again the next day, but that just became a slog they couldn't power through, not with their losses. I think they lost ten thousand on that first day. We lost eight hundred.

That night, I remembered walking through the town behind the lines, until I actually came here.

 _We arrive at a pair of intricately carved tombs, facing each other in a large chamber. I notice that the flooring in some places looks as though it had been meticulously rebuilt.  
_  
 **Q: Who are buried here?  
**  
A: Don Pedro and Dona Inês. He was a Prince of Portugal, and she was a mere handmaiden he fell in love with. Problem was that she was the handmaiden of his betrothed. When his father had her killed to maintain political unity, he waged a war against him that only stopped when his mother forced the two to make peace. When the father died, he became King of Portugal, and did plenty of things that earned him two titles among us- the Just, or the Cruel. It's a long story, and is as well-known to us as Romeo and Juliet is to the English.

The point is, he had it that when he died, he and Inês would be buried here, across from each other, so that when Judgment Day came, they would each be the first person the other saw when they rose.

 _He points at some faint chips and cracks in the tombs.  
_  
When I came in here, there was a hole blasted into the floor by a stray shot. I don't think we'll ever know if it was us or the aliens. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the hole had caused the tombs to tilt.

And so I found them facing each other once more, after hundreds of years. It was just as was intended, that it would happen when Judgment Day had come. Though, I don't think they envisioned alien lagartos when they planned this out.

Some others took it as a grave omen, that this was truly a sign that it was over for us.

 **Q: What about you?  
**  
 _Almeida simply smiles.  
_  
I didn't. In fact, it actually gave me a spot of hope, that we could pull through this. Judgment Day had come, and we now faced as a species the greatest threat we had ever come up against, or ever will.

And despite that, we still held the line at Alcobaça.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Eleven: Europe Ablaze_**


	12. Chapter 12

**Davidson I**

 _Adam Davidson is a professor of Linguistics at Diné College, where he teaches fellow members of the Navajo Nation. An unassuming-looking man, with wireframe glasses and a slight paunch, he invites me into his office for the interview.  
_  
 **Q: Good afternoon, Professor Davidson. I know you have class in an hour, so I'll try to make it quick.  
**  
A: It's alright by me. What questions do you have?

 **Q: First, I would like to ask how you ended up a communications specialist for the war.  
**  
A: Oh, that's one fairly simple. About a year or so after the discovery of the Conquest Fleet, I was recruited by the Army, since I was in fairly good shape at the time, and I was fluent in both English and Diné-bizaad.

 **Q: That's the Navajo language, yes?  
**  
A: Yes. I grew up learning it and English alongside each other, but I never thought I'd use it outside the Nation. I mean, pre-war there were probably fewer outsiders fluent in it there were men who'd gone to space. Of course, that was why it was chose, just like in the Second World War.

 **Q: Care to explain?  
**  
A: Well, it didn't really differ that much from a hundred years ago. Diné-bizaad is a _very_ hard language to learn for outsiders, and it's isolated from other Athabaskan languages. It's a tonal language, but it also possesses elements of agglutinative and fusional languages, which is a very difficult combination for most people who didn't grow up speaking a language like that. In the Second World War, it served as a very effective code; in fact, it stood as the only spoken code that never got broken. After all, what were the odds that some Japanese soldier knew how to speak it?

 **Q: But by that logic, wouldn't any human language qualify, as the Race came from a different planet altogether?  
**  
A: You have a good point, but the isolation of the language meant that there was no way the Race could pick up Diné-bizaad just by listening to radio broadcasts, or by scouring the internet. Considering that they were able to learn the bigger languages that way, it's clear we made the right choice.

 **Q: It still begs the question of why the Army decided to bring back code-talkers.  
**  
A: We weren't meant to be the forefront of communications; we were backup. We were meant to be used in case the aliens managed to decrypt our communications, or took out internet servers and radio arrays in the country. That was why the Army recruited Diné-bizaad speakers, as well as speakers of Tsalagi Gawonihisdi. That's Cherokee to you. Other countries did the same; China brought back Manchu, Japanese started using Ainu again, and I think the Egyptians used Nubian speakers.

 **Q: What were some of the codes used?  
**  
A: Well, we had to change around some vocabulary and use shorthand phrases; Diné-bizaad does not lend well to the translations of loan words. We didn't even call the Race 'the Race' in code, since the closest translation for that would be Diné, which means 'the People', and that was our own name for ourselves. We ended up calling them na'ashǫ́'ii, which is the word for anything that slinks along the ground, and generally means 'lizard'.

We also hearkened back to the Second World War, and used the terms the code-talkers used. We called tanks _wakaree'e,_ which is _nʉmʉ tekwapʉ_ for turtle. We just added na'ashǫ́'ii before our codes for planes and infantry. Na'ashǫ́'ii-wakaree'e for landcruisers, na'ashǫ́'ii-atsá for their starships, and so on.

 **Q: Were you taught anything else?**

I was also taught how to send messages in Morse, and trained to use carrier pigeons. Hard to use an orbital strike on underground telegraph lines, after all, and the odds that the Race would realize we were using birds to carry messages was absurd.

I'm glad we were paranoid enough to go that far, considering what happened with Footfall. As soon as a third of the internet went out, and the fithp started hitting telephone lines and cell towers, I was rolled into service. We still had radio, but there were concerns that the Race could be using captured code-breakers, so we decided to fall back to Diné-bizaad for a lot of things.

 **Q: Many people claim that your language was instrumental in arranging the Battle of Route 55. Would you agree?  
**  
 _Davidson chuckles._

A: Well, considering how many messages I had to send back in forth, I certainly hope so.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager IV**

 _Yeager pulls out a map of southern Illinois and surrounding states. It is covered in pen marks and shorthand notes scrawled neatly over certain parts.  
_  
A: The damage along the Mississippi had really done a number on our defenses in the area. Communication was troublesome, and the sheer amount of damage made transportation difficult. A lot of local forces in the area were disorganized, or simply decimated by the attack.

 **Q: What about the other parts of the country?  
**  
A: Well, the Race tried to make a push into Texas, after landing in the ruins of Dallas, but we were ready for that. When they tried to launch an offensive towards Austin, we managed to push them back, with help from Mexican fighters coming from over the border. Attempts to go north through Texas didn't work., either; the partisan fighting managed to slow them down enough for us to slam into them. They were essentially pigeonholed in Texas.

However, the offensive along the Mississippi was essentially unchecked. If we didn't do anything, they'd split the United States in half by the fourth day of their invasion. Combined with the ground lasers they had gotten from the fithp, and we were looking at the very real possibility that the East Coast could be at threat without help from our forces on the other side.

 **Q: Is that why the Battle of Route 55 happened?  
**  
A: It's a bit more complicated than that. We were already pulling together a military response to the threat; we could've just entrenched ourselves deep, make them bleed on the road to Chicago, then strike at their landing zones down south. However, it became decided that we needed something _big_ , something that the American people could stand behind. They _needed_ something to stand behind.

Sure, a lot of people had their resolve hardened when Straha essentially threatened to commit genocide on our nation, but lots of others were terrified. I'm sure there were plenty who'd be willing to surrender, if it meant not having to see their children die. Occupied areas were a mixed bag of resistance that'd make the Cong blush, and people who didn't make a peep. People who didn't have guns, but had lots of kids.

We _needed_ this battle. We needed to play off our strengths, and _crush_ the Lizards in a way that would inspire hope in the hopeless, to show that even this seemingly unstoppable force could be stopped.

 **Q: And so, the battle was planned?  
**  
A: Yes.

 _Yeager points at a line on the map.  
_  
Interstate 55 was one of the least damaged highways in the region, and the Race seemed to be planning on using it as they advanced towards Chicago. Now, the SOP for highways in enemy territory was to destroy them, but we decided to keep Interstate 55 intact, to keep the Lizards cocky and make sure they went where we wanted them to. We didn't have nerve gas on us, like in Europe, but we probably wouldn't have used it. We wanted to win the battle conventionally.

While small forces harassed the Lizards as they went through the edge of Tennessee, and while our partisans bled them in occupied areas, we started gathering our forces. The Race push to Chicago was two million strong. We managed to gather three million men, nearly a fifth of our armed forces, and we decided that we'd fight the battle a few miles from St. Louis. This was going to be a battle we played on _our_ terms.

It was high time that we showed them why you don't fuck with Uncle Sam.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Dkolo I**

 _Like many other veteran troopmales, Flight Leader Dkolo lives in Al-Fashir, where he owns a ginger parlor. There are a handful of Race males lounging around inside, casually chatting with each other as they taste some ginger after a long workday. A few locals are there as well, enjoying the high-quality marijuana imported in._

 _Dkolo greets me at the counter, wearing some human jewelry and the newest fad in body paint. He pours me a cup of spiced tea, and pours one for himself._

 **Q: You seem to be doing rather well for yourself, Flight Leader Dkolo.  
**  
A: Dkolo will do. I haven't flown a killercraft in years. I take it you're here to get my story?

 **Q: Yes. I was wondering if we could begin with the Battle of Route 55?  
**  
A: Eh, why not. I didn't really do anything before that; I was just waiting in orbit, passing rumors and polishing my cockpit. Just my luck that my first deployment would be in _America_.

 **Q: What was your time in the country like, before the Battle?  
**  
A: I flew patrols around the landing sites, then got transferred to occupied Little Rock. I was kept from leaving the base during that time; the partisan fighting was bad enough to make the commanders worry about having us vital pilots get in snipers' sights or Stinger targeting. It was like waiting in orbit again, but this time with more rain.

Then, after two boring and rainy days, we received orders to fly north. Apparently, up high had reason to believe there was a small gathering of American forces near some city called St. Louis, and they wanted to crush it utterly. That was the typical battle doctrine after Straha took control; try and vastly outnumber the opponent, since odds were they'd have better guns and tactics than you.

So, I hopped into my killercraft and flew up, along with about twelve hundred others. It was to be the single largest air offensive since we were pushed out of Egypt. I was kinda anxious about the whole thing, as I took off and started flying over with my squadron. I'd heard the horror stories from other pilots, about how the Egyptians and Israelis had been merciless in the air.

I reassured myself by remembering that we were fighting a smaller American force. A hundred thousand men, at most, which meant probably only two hundred planes. Plus, now we had assistance from the fithp, and I remembered how they'd shot down Indian aircraft like gnats. I told myself we'd clean up the sky without a problem, then provide ground attack for males on the ground.

 **Q: When did you see combat?  
**  
A: I was about eighty kilometers from the supposed 'small' gathering of American forces when our radar first detected aircraft; about three hundred or so. What surprised me the most was how _small_ they were; I was expecting something comparable in size to my own killercraft, but these things looked half the size, or even smaller. What's more, they were _slow_. They were moving at only a few hundred kilometers an hour.

 _He sips his spiced tea.  
_  
I was relieved beyond belief when I saw those tiny blips. I started thinking that the American military was a... how do you say it? Paper lion?

 **Q: Paper tiger.  
**  
A: Ah, yeah. I thought that the supposed 'mightiest of all Tosevite not-empires' was actually just a paper tiger. I didn't have much to disprove me at the time, considering how I actually hadn't _seen_ them in action.

So, I turned on my targeting system, and went after those aircraft. I guess they noticed, and so they immediately turned away. Now, usually this is when you don't pursue, in case they're trying to divert air support, but we pilots were selected for aggressiveness. My squadron and a few others broke off to pursue the aircraft in three different directions, and we started blowing them out of the sky. The things could barely dodge out of the way of a missile; a few of us even decided to save ammo and use our autocannons.

That was when the gunners made a discovery they were quick to tell us. Chiefly, that these aircraft didn't even have _cockpits_.

I was confused about it, until the first missile launches were detected, coming out of nowhere.

 **Q: SAMs?  
**  
A: No, these weren't coming from the ground. It was as though some phantom fighters had fired them.

Then a few veteran pilots from China started screaming over the comms, saying a term I'd dismissed as a stupid rumor - ghostcraft. Tosevite killercraft that could somehow go undetected by our radar systems, right up until their missiles hit us.

Well, it seemed that the ghostcraft were real, and I could practically _feel_ my liver shrivel up in terror when they started shouting the word. Mind you, a lot of air combat is beyond visual range; a lot of pilots probably didn't even _see_ the ghostcraft before a missile blew them out of the sky.

As soon as we realized what we were up against, we did the only sensible thing; we ran. We hit the afterburners, and tried to get as far away from the ghostcraft as possible. We warned the rest of the killercraft that were still heading to St. Louis about the ghostcraft, and that was when some just started exploding all on their own. No missiles, no guns; just _whomp._ A few of the pilots from India and China recognized the mysterious weapon, and warned the others that the Americans apparently had their own Emperor-forsaken _ftaskelwank_ , just like the fithp.

 **Q: Those must have been from the COIL program.  
**  
A: My liver quivers to imagine what would've happened if there wasn't a rainstorm going on, and those American _ftaskelkwank_ didn't have to focus forever to blow one of us up. It still scared the hell out of us, though. I was shaking in my pilot's seat I tried to fly back south, along with the rest of the air attack force.

 _He sips his tea again, and hisses.  
_  
Of course, that was when we detected more phantom missiles, and realized that we'd been led into a trap. Can you imagine that feeling? Thinking that you're about to win an easy victory, only to realize that you fell right into the enemy's clutches? To go from predator to prey in mere minutes? Because it was only fifteen minutes between seeing the drones, and getting intercepted by the ghostcraft.

 **Q: How did you survive?  
**  
A: I don't really know; my mind was on autopilot, no pun intended. I remember trying to get as high as I could, hoping that my superior operation ceiling would save me, then just swooped down south as fast as I could. A bunch of others had the same idea, but the American ghostcraft chased them down and killed them. When I realized they were coming for me next, I just bailed out, and winded up somewhere near Memphis.

 _He hisses again.  
_  
I was one of only four survivors from that air battle.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Perry I**

 _Teerts's roommate, fellow pilot Alice Perry, joins in for the interview, after Teerts mentions that she flew in the Battle of Route 55. A middle-aged woman with vibrant red hair, she sits down beside her friend.  
_  
 **Q: I am surprised you two share an apartment together, now that I know you flew in that battle.  
**  
A (Perry): Eh, what's past is past. We don't hold each other accountable for what we did.

A (Teerts): Not to mention I lost sympathy for a lot of my fellow pilots after Footfall. They should've made it like... ah, sorry for cutting in on your story.

A (Perry): No problem.

 **Q: Alright, let's start with the beginning. What was your role in the battle?  
**  
A (Perry): I was a Lightning Lady. Uh, that meant I flew the F-35G. That's basically the F-35B, but with ablative paint to help protect against lasers. The STOVL was important, considering that I might need to land in a damaged runway, and it was unlikely I was going to be heading far, anyway.

A (Teerts): Still couldn't get skyhooked into a spaceship, though. _Lowers jaw in laughter.  
_  
A (Perry): No, it just had augmented reality that made your radar look like those comical hearing horns back in WWI, stealth technology, and a bigger gun.

A (Teerts): ...fair enough.

 **Q: Um?  
**  
A (Perry): Sorry about that. Anyway, my squadron and I were flown out in a mixed air/ground attack config. Our job was two-fold: protect the attack aircraft, and do a little bombing ourselves. The killercraft were left to the tender ministrations of the Raptors and Super Hornets.

The attack aircraft we were protecting included Warthogs, B-2s... they even brought out a few of the old B-52s and crammed them with all sorts of new bombs. Between the attack aircraft and all the fighters, there were probably four thousand planes in the air.

 **Q: Did you see combat?  
**  
A: Not against killercraft, no. The Raptors and Hornets were already cleaning them up by the time the attack aircraft began the first stage of, well, attack. We were attacking along a stretch of turf about a hundred miles long, snaking along Interstate 55. Not _everyone_ was on it, but there was definitely a lot of armor moving along the lanes. Our job was to break that long stretch up.

My squadron and I went first, along with the B-2s, since we had to take out anything that could threaten the more vulnerable bombers. We hit SAM launchers, turrets, even lasers.

 **Q: There were lasers there?  
**  
A: Yep. A few fithp were there, I guess, and they were bringing along small lasers. Nothing that could shoot down dozens of ICBMs or launch digit ships, but something that could take out aircraft, even through the rain. I got a bit heated in one of the wings by one, but the ablative coating did its job.

 **Q: Why didn't the fithp attack from orbit?  
**  
A: How could they? Their lasers would be shit when trying to hit something through the big rainclouds they made, and trying to hit us with their rods could easily smash their own forces. Talk about shooting yourself in the... _She waggles her eyebrows. .._ Foot?

 _Teerts hisses.  
_  
 **Q: What did the other attack aircraft do?  
**  
A: Well, the Warthogs did what they did best, which was 'brrrrRRRRRrrrt'. They took out three, four landcruisers in a good strafe, and their guided bombs put nice holes in the freeway, along with any equipment unlucky enough to be in the way. The B-1s and B-2s took out stragglers, and made nice little roadblocks as a result.

The real show-stealers, though, were the B-52s. They would fly in a group of eight, doing a broad run over a chunk of the Interstate, then circle back for the next three to bomb the next designated part of the Interstate, and they just _annihilated_ everything they hit, scrapping anything within ten klicks of each side of the freeway.

By the time we were done with the first ground attack, we'd divided the Race advance into eight bite-sized chunks. We had to circle back by then; we were out of weapons, and needed to refuel. Besides, the next wave of aircraft were on their way, to back up the next part.

 **Q: Next part?  
**  
A: Well, after what we did, the Race decided it was a good idea to try and get the hell out of dodge. Thing is, there wasn't a lot of places _to_ go. One on side, they had the Mississippi, and they couldn't go north or south without having to spread out dangerously, so they could only go west.

 _She grins.  
_  
And that's when the ground attack came in.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Shinifula I**

 _A rather tall Hallessi, even for his species, Shinifula is a construction worker in Tampico, where he assists in the Xipe-Totec program to rebuild the Mexican coast. He agrees to the interview during his lunch break, and buys me some street tacos as we sit down on a bench.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for the taco, Shinifula. I know it can't be easy to talk about your experience in the war.  
**  
A: Compared to many, I got off lucky. I am alive, my limbs are intact. I only lost a few friends.

 _He digs into his taco, chewing absentmindedly.  
_  
 **Q: Let's start with what your time in America before the battle was like.  
**  
A: It shall be done. Let's see... I was part of the landing in Montgomery, after the waves. I was a landcruiser driver for an experienced crew, but it was my first assignment. I was the resident rookie of the group, meant to replace their previous driver, who had the misfortune of being pulped by a mine.

It's... it's hard to describe what it was like, coming to America. Unlike many of the others, I was actually born on Halless; I moved to Home for studying. I was young when I left, but I can still remember it. It wasn't as hot as it is on Home, but it was even drier. I remember playing in dried riverbeds, dragging my foot claws over the parched soil and watching the dust billow away in the wind.

But when I landed in America, my first impression was of heavy, heavy rain, and ground that squelched and slurped at my feet. Such an alien sensation, at the time. I hated it, and I hated how cold it was.

I was ordered to drive up north with the big offensive towards Chicago, but it was slow going at first, navigating all the destruction. There was much to see. I saw the shattered remains of towns and cities, reduced to pieces of wood and concrete half-buried in mud. Flattened stretches of forest, with the occasional tree still standing, stripped of leaves. I'd never seen a forest before, or such devastation. Everything was alien to me, in ways both subtle and overt.

My fellow males said little to me during that time. There were occasional grumbles of discontent among them; many of them were... worried, about the transition in power. They disapproved of the devastation as well, but I did not join them in their grumblings. Perhaps it was because I was a novice, and perhaps it was more than a little concern. The true treachery had not begun yet, but there were inklings of it, even then.

 **Q: When did you experience combat?**

A: It was my fourth day on Earth when I was flung into the American Cage. We were told of a small American force near St. Louis, and were ordered to crush it utterly, as to secure an easy victory while the enemy still reeled. I was afraid of what I'd see, once we attacked the Americans. I was afraid I was going to witness the slaughter of Race and Tosevite alike, like in India, much as how the veterans had discussed with each other in hushed tones.

Ssalnak was in the middle of commenting on how much nicer American roads were than Indian ones when the first frantic reports from the killercraft started coming in. I didn't know what to think of them at first; I thought the idea of ghostcraft and American _ftaskelkwank_ were absurd. Ssalnak and the other veterans, however, took them with the utmost severity. They ordered me to drive out of the lane and onto the field. Shrieked it would be a better term, though.

Ultimately, it was what saved my life. Not two minutes later, one of those forsaken American aircraft came swooping down, the one they named after that African pig with big tusks. Even through the pounding rain and the hull of my landcruiser, I could hear that horrific noise it made, that low 'brrrrrrrrt' sound. When I dared to look in the rear camera, I saw that the nearby landcruisers who hadn't driven of the lane had been shredded apart by the gun.

Even after forty years, I can remember the chill down my stalks as though it was yesterday.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: We kept on driving as far from the highway as possible, hoping to avoid the bombing run. I saw many other landcruisers doing the same, through the cameras. I had no idea what to do, or where to go. For all I knew, there could've been a Tosevite missile about to strike me at any moment.

The fear only deepened when I heard the artillery and cannons near our position. I could barely see through the rain as landcruisers further out began to blow apart, and then we realized there were American tanks cresting the nearby hill. These looked different from the pictures I'd seen of other tanks, however; these looked larger, and the gun looked absolutely gargantuan.

 **Q: It sounds like you saw M1A5s.  
**  
A: Well, they were certainly terrifying. It was less of a fight, and more of a desperate run for my life. Any landcruisers that actually tried to stand up against these monsters were destroyed; the gun was powerful enough to one-shot a landcruiser at all but the worst angles, and from outside our own range.

Ssalnak actually managed to get some shots in, on an American tank that decided to pursue us. They simply bounced off. Then it fired a single shot, and we were immobilized.

 **Q: How did you survive?  
**  
A: Propaganda.

 **Q: Pardon?  
**  
A: I managed to scramble out of an access panel, then crawled away in that cold, alien mud, just in time to see the American tank smash right into my crippled landcruiser like a battering ram, then shoot it at point-blank. I am certain I saw pieces of my fellow troopmales shoot out of the fiery wreckage that was once my landcruiser.

It was equal parts horrifying and confusing; I remember simply staring as the tank went to rejoin the assault on our offensive, leaving me to stand in the cold rain. I did not know at the time why the Americans decided to go for such a risky and brutal maneuver, until after I was taken prisoner by a passing IFV near the close of the battle.

 _He hisses to himself, and takes another bite of his taco._

Could you imagine, narrowly avoiding the embrace of death, simply because the enemy desired to have something spectacular to show its people?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wierzbowski I**

 _Ret. Corporal Nicolas Wierzbowski is usually found nowadays in Fresh Start, Georgia, where he works as a florist. He greets me in his shop, soil lining the creases in his hands.  
_  
 **Q: Lovely shop you have here, Mr. Wierzbowski.  
**  
A: Thank ya kindly. What kinda questions ya got for me?

 **Q: Well, I'm mainly here to ask you about the Battle of Route 55.  
**  
A: Battle o' Route 55? Goddam, why the hell do everybody call it that? It was an interstate. Pretty sure Route 55's in Jersey or somethin'.

 **Q: Fair enough. Would you care to tell me about your experience in the Battle of Interstate 55?  
**  
A: Ooh, that's always an excitin' one ta talk about. Later stuff was borin' for me; didn't really get to shoot nothin'. I was a tanker then, doin' the shootin' for a Thumper. I mean, an M1A5. Yeah, me and two others were in the tank; Ramirez did the drivin', and Herb was the commander. We didn't have a loader, since we had one of 'em fancy autoloaders they started puttin' in the new tanks.

 **Q: You had autoloaders, like the Race?  
**  
A: We an' the French had 'em, I think. The first models were shit; kept on jammin' or breakin' down, then they got a good one about a year before the Lizards came a knockin'.

Man, the Thumper was a thing o' beauty, but it was also a bit much for the job, actually. We were expectin' Lima to come down with shit like in Independence Day or somethin', so the army planners went overboard. I'm talkin' a layer of ablative coating in case they had lasers, brand-new IR imagin', the latest reactive armor, and the gun.

 _Wierzbowski closes his eyes for a moment, as if reliving a pleasant memory.  
_  
Oooooh, that gun. I guess the brass were afraid that Lima was gonna have force-fields or the ultimate scramblin' stuff, 'cause they decided to put a big fuckin' gun in. Back when we didn't know there were aliens comin' for us, the Abrams had a smoothbore that was about 120 mm. The Thumper had a smoothbore too, but it was a 140 mm across. If you know anythin' about tanks back then, then you'd know that's a bit much. Thank god for the autoloader; I'd hate ta try and heft one of our old DU rounds.

 **Q: DU?  
**  
A: Depleted uranium. Some rounds are HEAT, which is when it explodes and sends a stream of molten metal through tank armor, but DU rounds are just meant ta punch right through, and ya can't detonate them prematurely. When it comes ta modern armor and shit, DU rounds are the ultimate tank-fuckers. I saw one punch clean through a landcruiser, _the long way.  
_  
 **Q: So you saw combat in the battle?  
**  
A: Hell yeah. Me and the others were part of the northernmost push, right near St. Louis. They had us lyin' in wait, covered in branches to help with our camo, in case the snouts were lookin' to drop some crowbars on our heads. I have ta say, watchin' those Lima tanks rollin' down the interstate from eight klicks aways with the IR kinda made my sphincter pucker right up. I had no idea if we were gonna get flattened right as we attacked, even if the brass said the rain would hide us.

Then the Lizards got swatted out of the sky by our boys, and we got the order to go huntin'. The bombers were already disrupting the line, makin' the Lizards run right into us. No need to be subtle; the platoon and I just rolled out, and the speakers started blarin' Stars and Stripes Forever. Y'know, hypin' us up and freakin' the Lizards out.

Not gonna lie, after everythin' the aliens did to us, with the Foot and basically threatenin' ta split the country in half, it was _good_ to hear that song. I had the worst case of war wood when we began ta tear into the Lizards' asses.

 **Q: War wood?  
**  
 _Wierzbowski grins.  
_  
 **Q: Er, never mind. What was combat against the Race armor like?  
**  
A: Well, we had ta be careful ta avoid friendly fire, so we didn't just try ta surround 'em. We split into a few dozen platoons each, and went in for a pincer movement, hittin' the landcruisers from the sides, where the armor was thinner. I mean, even a big round can actually bounce off shit armor if ya hit it at the wrong angle.

Normally, when you're fightin' in a tank battle, ya actually need mechanized infantry as well; it ain't good to be all exposed to some guy with a Javelin or RPG, and so the infantry are kinda meant to counteract it. Same thing with the air.

Thing is, we'd taken out most of their killercraft by then, and we didn't need ta worry about the Lizards' infantry. They never bothered ta invent AT weapons for their grunts. I guess it makes sense; can you really see some tiny Lizard, eighty pounds soakin' wet, heftin' a Javelin?

It was a total fuckfest. The Lizard guns had shorter range and less _oomph_ , their armor was shit against our guns, and they were totally unprepared for this kinda fight. The mud was makin' 'em sink in and get stuck, and I guess a desert planet people never bothered to make something to see the enemy in case it rained. Plus, their tactics were _shit_.

We actually nearly ran outta ammo from all the landcruisers we were hittin'. By the end, we'd only lost three tanks from mobility kills, and that was due ta the fact that the brass wanted to get something cool down on camera.

We were gettin' surrenders en masse from the scared survivors, especially the infantry who realized just how fucked they were.

 **Q: Did you accept the surrenders?  
**  
 _Wierzbowski's jovial expression disappears. He rubs his face wearily._

A: I mean, _we_ did. More than a few of us felt that it'd be better ta show that we were the better men, so ta say. The brass didn't say much about prisoners; didn't say to just execute everyone, but they didn't tell us to try and save as many as we could, neither.

And, well, a few of us had family in Texas or Louisiana.

I'm not sayin' it was right, when a few guys started killin' prisoners. Those accounts of forcin' 'em into holes, then fillin' 'em with mud? That's fucked up. That's the kinda shit you'd hear from WWII, from the Nazis or angry Russians. I didn't shed a tear when the guys got locked up.

But, I can _understand_ it. It doesn't make it right; never makes it right. But when the enemy was dehumanized from the start, thanks ta bein' alien lizards, and when they hurt you, you wanna hurt 'em back.

That's the nasty thing about war. Do you think those guys were eatin' puppies or somethin' before they enlisted? Nah. Those people were office workers, or teachers or electricians. I'd say the vast majority were good folk, who just wanted to feed themselves or their families, and hang out with their friends. But war _hurts_ people, and I'm not just talkin' about the guys who get their legs blown off, or have to go to therapy for anxiety attacks whenever someone farts too loudly.

I'm talkin' when you lose somethin'. Could be a leg, could be family, could even be a future. And all that pain's like fuckin' acid, eatin' away at ya, until it makes you as mean as the war around ya. It can make some plump lady who taught kindergarten before the war start skinnin' Lizards, or some college student who wanted to be a doctor force prisoners to dig their own graves in the freezin' rain.

Same shit with the Russians, back when they were pushin' the Nazis back. All that killin' and rapin' they did in Berlin… those Russkies were fuckin' farmers or factory men, just mindin' their own business when the Nazis came in and took everythin' from 'em, and all that pain turned into anger, and twisted those good farmers into angry animals.

 _He sighs._

People like ta say that war's in our nature, but I don't bite. If it was, then why does it fuck us up so bad?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager V**

 _Yeager overlays the map with an old plastic sheet, showing faded marker lines pointing into the projected Race forces.  
_  
 **Q: Is that the planned offensive, or the actual paths took by American forces during the battle?  
**  
A: Actual. I was still in NORAD with the President and Joint Chiefs, drawing over the sheets as we got more news coming in via the Navajo code talkers and combat feeds. It was a very tense time; we had no idea if the Race would have the fithp try and send kinetic impactors our way once the Fleetlord caught whiff of what we were doing. We had the remaining Ow guns primed, ready to try and knock any intruding spacecraft out of the sky.

Thankfully, there wasn't.

 **Q: How long did the battle last?  
**  
A: All in all? I'd say maybe twelve or fourteen hours. This was the fastest battle of such size in human history; most of the time, a million-man slug out can last weeks or months. Kursk? That was about eight weeks, and that used to be the biggest tank battle. The Nazi invasion of France was forty six days long, and had millions of men involved, too.

Thing is, though, the very _nature_ of this war changed everything. We were fighting an enemy with logistics that could allow rapid deployments, but who had very poor tactics, instead relying on numbers to win their victories. The Race didn't really take to urban combat all that well, and hadn't really run into a well-entrenched enemy due to landing in areas that benefited their tactics.

On our side, we'd never had to mobilize our forces in such a manner since WWII, back when we were using _prop planes_ and had to rely entirely on radios and telegraphs for large-scale networking. Combine that level of equipment with modern logistics and networking...

The nature of our technology, and of theirs, meant that battles became a helluva lot quicker. Either they crushed a small force with superior numbers, or we crushed them with superior tactics and weapons. The longest slug out was Shanghai, and even that was only a few weeks.

It definitely showed.

 **Q: Even considering that, how was the battle won so quickly? The Race's technology was still fairly advanced.  
**  
A: Numbers and tech aren't everything, especially if you don't know how to use it. But, at the same time, even a small tech advantage can go a long way, if you use it right. I know some critics will probably flay me for saying this, but it's a lot like the Gulf Wars. Back then, the Coalition was actually outnumbered by the Iraqis when they invaded, and it wasn't like the Ba'athists only had Toyotas with machine guns on them; they had jets, they had tanks.

Thing is, our tanks and jets were more advanced, even if the gap wasn't as bad as the gap between us and the Race, and we knew how to use them better. Tactics, discipline, and exploiting the hell out of every homefield and tech advantage we had. That's why we managed to take down Hussein with less than two hundred dead, initially. The occupation was a whole other matter, but that's not important to this discussion.

Point is, I wasn't too surprised when the final report for the battle came in.

 **Q: Which was?  
**  
A: For us, we lost eight hundred men, three tanks to mobility kills, sixteen fighters, three bombers, and eight IFVs. The Race lost one and a half million, twelve thousand landcruisers, and more than seventeen hundred killercraft. We ended up taking half a million prisoners, though the number dropped a little by the time we got them over to our POW camps.

 _He smiles a little.  
_  
We got what we needed. We stopped their advance to Chicago, and we got thousands of hours of footage, footage we ended up plastering all over the remaining internet and on every TV screen in the country. We had our propaganda victory.

We certainly needed it, considering all the other shit going on.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: We might've taken out a two-million Lizard force, but there were still nearly ten million of them left in American soil. They were still trying to push into Texas, they were spreading towards northern Georgia and Tennessee, and intelligence reports indicated that they were getting ready to try and push their way past the Appalachians.

Not to mention, but it'd be a lot harder to assault occupied territory than to stop a Lizard offensive. They already had the big lasers on the ground in the south, and there was no telling how long the rain was going to protect any pushes into turf the Ow guns couldn't cover.

And there was the dark cloud hanging over our heads, in the shape of a possible future impactor. We could crush their ground forces all we wanted, but ultimately, whoever controlled the orbitals controlled the war. Even then, I knew a lot more blood was gonna spill before we could see the light on the other side.

In the meantime, however, we'd scored a victory. Morale jumped through the roof as we put on the footage of the battle, and partisan reports indicated that the Race forces on the ground were starting to lose any bluster they had.

It wasn't just a tactical and strategic victory. It was a _statement._ It was a statement to the American people, and to the Race itself, that we were holding strong.

We looked Straha right in the eye and told him that despite all that he did, and all he threatened to do...

 _He pauses for a moment, then smiles._

We told him that America did not break, and never would.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Twelve: Invasion U.S.A_**


	13. Chapter 13

**Atvar V**

 _Digging underneath his desk, Atvar pulls out an old microphone and recording set. His eye turrets seem to twitch slightly as he looks upon the battered devices, then gently drums his fingerclaws over the casing._

 **Q: Is that that what you used to make the broadcasts?**

A: Yes. The Supreme Commanders of NATO agreed that it'd be best to use a Race-made radio, instead of their own equipment. Couldn't give the impression that I was a hostage or puppet, after all.

 **Q: How exactly did you come to start the broadcasts?**

A: It was my suggestion, actually, though it was in response to a question. My crew and I had been spending the first three days of Footfall simply hiding in custody in the POW camps, or, in my case, the same room as the Supreme Commanders. I was frequently consulted on what strategies the landing forces might employ while in Europe, and I responded accordingly.

 **Q: What was the question you were asked?**

A: One of them asked me if there was any sign of discontent within the ranks of the Conquest Fleet. I was actually asked that on my first day, due to my surrender, and I stewed further on the matter while acting as a consultant. It was on the third day, after the gas attack in Lyon, that I made the suggestion to produce propaganda broadcasts.

 **Q: You said after the gas attack. Was that a major factor in you decision?**

A: Indeed. The attack horrified me to the core, knowing that thousands of troopmales, males who had been under my command only a week ago, were dying horrifically in a futile struggle. The hatred I had for Straha only hardened in my liver, knowing that his treachery and shortsightedness was killing millions, and threatening millions more.

I desired to try and mitigate the suffering, and hopefully end the war sooner. I made this clear to the Supreme Commanders, and after a short debate amongst themselves and with various world leaders, it was approved. Though, I could not make the address alone; a pair of guards were in the room at any time, ready to cut the transmission short in case I attempted something like the Daniels boy.

 **Q: Were there any conditions made?**

A: Only one; that after the war ended, or if Straha was deposed and I returned to power, we would resume negotiations. Not to try and hold on to captured land, but to ensure the safety of the Colonization Fleet, and to determine the fate of any surviving troopmales. I consented to a post-war trial and armistice, and they agreed that doing so would thereby grant any troopmales loyal to me protection under their Geneva Conventions.

 **Q: When did you start the broadcasts?**

A: One day after the gas attack in Lyon. The radio device was set to broadcast across all wavelengths used by the Conquest Fleet, and was also put on various television channels and the site they called YouTube, in case there were any troopmales watching on captured devices.

The first broadcast was relatively short; I simply described the gas attack in Lyon, and the devastation wrought by the Foot. I pointed to these horrors, and said that they were evidence of Straha's madness, of his willingness to send his troopmales to the slaughter. I said that the mass murder he'd unleashed was against the values entrenched in us by the light of the Emperor, and would only serve to deepen the anger and resolve of the Tosevites.

I told any listening troopmales that by following Straha's addled orders, they were not only likely to face horrific consequences, but were putting Home itself at risk. I tried my best to use what I'd heard my own troopmales say about the war, hoping that it would appeal to the veterans who'd seen firsthand the futility of the conflict.

I said that the war had been lost before it even began, and all we could do now as to ensure the safety of the Colonization Fleet by breaking away from Straha and agreeing to an armistice with the Tosevites. I also made sure to emphasize that any defectors would be protected under the Geneva Conventions, in case they feared they'd be treated like prisoners in Africa or India.

That was the first broadcast. I would make several more during the war, after various events and... changes.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **From the Journal of Shistvan, dated January 24th, 2021**

 _Today may be the most difficult decision of my life. A year ago, this would have been something I would never have even thought of, let do. Even now, it feels like such an **alien** thought, stabbing into my mind like a piece of glass._

 _But this world seems to consist only of alien things. Nearly everything about it has been outside my blissful existence before coming to this strange rock, big and small. I have born witness to things that no-one on Home could ever truly understand, or even believe._

 _I was expecting to scare a few Tosevites with my gun, then simply enjoy a rugged life in the wilderness of this planet until the Colonization Fleet arrived, then I could get a job with the settlers. An adventure in the name of the Emperor, and bringing glory to Home. That was what I thought when I signed up during the Soldier's Time._

 _Instead, I have seen my friends die painfully, and watched commanders I respected be blown to a fine paste. I have witnessed old men sneak explosives under their clothes and kill themselves to kill us, and I have been shot at by not-hatchlings who didn't even know why they were fighting. Friends have fallen to the spice before my eyes, and I have witnessed Tosevites enacting countless atrocities against each other, atrocities I did not think possible._

 _And at the same time, I have been given a once-in-a-millennium chance to experience ways of life that I could never find on Home, or anywhere else in the Empire. I have sat in the shade of a cozy stone home and shared food and drink with kind Tosevites. I have been able to witness their ways of life in various regions, each one distinct from each other, and vastly different from my own, and yet no less beautiful. I have heard their singing, and seen their art._

 _This world is a rugged one, can can be full of cruelty. And yet, at the same time, it is a uniquely beautiful one._

 _However, all of this seems to teeter on a most dangerous balance, now. I remember how uncertain I felt, and how concerned my smallgroup looked, when we received the news of the transition in power. Ristov didn't even know that a vote of no confidence could actually be called against a Fleetlord, and I was shocked that it actually happened, let alone succeeded. "How was that going to change the invasion?" was what we discussed at the campfire. Psanok hoped that it meant we would leave this planet behind and return Home, where hatchlings don't shoot at us and every house has electricity._

 _How wrong we have been._

 _We were still close to the Egyptian border when those forsaken rocks hit. The rain has only now begun to lift, and I've heard that it's still going strong in other places. Before I came here, I'd only seen rain a few times in person; scant showers that came as quickly as they went. I have never experienced a rainstorm like this before, even in this region. The river they call en-Nīl has grown fat and swollen with water, dragging small homes and bodies with it, and there has been no safe refuge for my feet since this began._

 _Is this what we've come to? Slaughtering millions of non-combats, washing them away in a deluge of such magnitude that it defies imagination? How many Rabotevs and Hallessi died in our conquests? A few hundred? A few thousand? We call ourselves a peaceful people, and yet we've committed unspeakable violence here. I am ashamed that we have stooped so low, to commit mass murder when we know the war is lost._

 _This war **is** lost. I've seen in, in the eyes of my friends, and in the eyes of the Tosevites we've fought. I saw it in the paste that was Ttish and that old man, and I saw in the photos of mushroom clouds over Mumbai'i that circulated a while back. We should've made our peace and returned Home in defeat, rather than potentially doom it to whatever revenge the Tosevites will develop after they kill us all. This isn't conquest to make a better world. This is **slaughter** for little more than slaughter's sake, and I fear its evil will spread to Home itself._

 _Is this what Tosev Three does to us? Are these oceans and lakes a mirror, showing us how ugly we really are?_

 _We heard the former Fleetlord's broadcast earlier this morning. I'm not sure how I can describe how all of us felt, sitting around the radio. It is almost... relief. We know that we are not alone in our feelings, and that maybe the other troopmales also desire an end to this war. A few smallgroups contacted us about the broadcast, too, speaking in a manner that hinted they were probing us to see if we also agreed._

 _Psanok's given the order. We've packed up the landcruisers, and we're meeting up with three other platoons in the area, so we can make our way to the Egyptian border. I hope the Fleetlord is right, that we will be granted rights under their Jinivah convention, or however it's called. We've begun to contact the other platoons as well, hoping that they will join us._

 _I never thought I would be participating in a mutiny. Would the Emperor turn his back to us, for what we are to do?_

 _No. The Emperor protects, and cares for the well-being of all in His light. He would not condone such slaughter, to go against everything that makes us Race. I am not betraying the Emperor with this mutiny; I am returning to His fold. For the first time since I came here, my mind feels clear._

 _Perhaps our 'exalted' Fleetlord will see reason when he realizes that we have taken a stand against his madness, and I can see Home again._

 **[Translator's note]: This marks the last page of the journal. It was found nearly intact amongst the wreckage of Shistvan's landcruiser, along with the wreckage of eight others, three kilometers from the Egyptian border. The journal was uncovered nearly a month after its owner was killed by an orbital bombardment.**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Hakmon II**

 _After taking a few minutes off from the interview in order to answer a phone call, Hakmon nods for me to continue. Her husband, George, can be seen in the background recording some sort of comedy video._

 **Q: Now, you were still stationed along the Tigris River when Footfall occured, yes?**

A: Yes. For a month beforehand, I was essentially in the trenches. The fithp bombardment at the beginning of their initial invasion had hit our supply lines, making an advance into occupied territory dangerous, and the Race was too disorganized to push us past the Tigris. We just held the line across the river from each other, occasionally taking potshots or bombing each other. I shuffled between bombed out houses or small bases we set up.

In a way, Footfall may have kept the line from breaking. Now that the Lizard threat had been diminished, tensions were rising between us and the Arab forces. The Saudis, especially, were on edge; I imagine having your entire nation occupied can do that to you. Fights were starting to break out, and the commanders were butting heads.

Then when the planet shook from the impacts, and we got the heaviest rainfall in years, we remembered who the real enemy was. Suddenly, we were all... hmm, _chummy_ isn't the right word, but at least we weren't about to start shooting each other.

 **Q: Did you see combat after Footfall?**

A: For the first two days, no. The Race was playing strictly defensive; I think they were focusing more on trying to break America and Europe. Considering the meat grinder it turned out to be, I suppose they needed every spare bullet they needed.

 _She takes a sip of water._

That was a scary time. If America broke, we thought, then what chance could _we_ stand? And the demand for surrender from Straha... I was never a big science fiction fan, but that moment felt like something you would only see in a bad cartoon. I never thought I'd hear some alien conquerer call for humanity to surrender; all he needed was a mustache to twirl. But it was _scary_ instead of silly, because I knew the threats were real. I knew that I could face having to renounce my faith, and watching those scaly monsters put the temples to torch.

At the same time, however, it just made us _mad_. I think my comrades were even more pissed than the Arabs; we didn't spend decades fighting to ensure the survival of our people and faith, only to just _give it up_. I'm not talking like those old Zionists, either. This wasn't somebody who got pushed out of their home and had valid points about what we did; this was someone who saw his culture as superior, and that... I don't think I need to explain why that pissed us off.

I guess that's why we decided to press our luck, and on the third day after Footfall, my squad and I were sent across the Tigris, along with eight thousand other soldiers. That quickly got bogged down, when the fithp lasers started neutralizing our air support. I spent the rest of the day in a freezing mudhole, laying down covering fire as the rest tried advancing street by street.

The next day was going just about the same, though at least the rain was starting to clear by then. Suddenly, I think it was about noonish, when the shooting on the Race side began to die down.

 **Q: Die down?**

A: Fading. Not irregular, either. It was as though many of them all decided to stop shooting, and the others began to quickly follow suit. We were _very_ wary of it; for all we knew, there could've be a low kiloton surprise waiting for any army marching triumphantly into the town. We kept an eye out for any Lizards, and waited to see what was happening.

I think it was about ten or twenty minutes later that I heard the gunfire again, but it was more distant. Me and a few others started talking to each other, and we all agreed that it sounded like they weren't shooting at _us_.

We checked with the Iraqis and Saudis, to see if they'd somehow encircled the Lizards, but they were still where they'd been yesterday. That was when we got _really_ confused.

It was a few minutes after that when we saw the first white flag.

 **Q: They were surrendering?**

A: Hundreds of them, all marching towards us and waving white flags. A few fithp were with them; one or two of them looked beaten and bloodied. We yelled at them to stay put, and they obliged.

 **Q: What happened after that?**

A: We had David run out to talk to the seeming leader. They chatted for a bit, then David told us that every was checking out all right. We had the Lizards come to our lines in bite-sized chunks, and we made sure they were unarmed.

I ended up getting the full picture later, from David. He told me that they'd received a broadcast from their former Fleetlord the night before, calling for them to surrender, then just that morning received news about some bombardment near Egypt that pushed them over the edge. The local commander told them to keep fighting, and even threatened to have the few fithp he had under his command ensure they stayed in line.

The gunshots we heard were, in the new leader's words, "a retort".

 **Q: What happened after that?**

A: Well, we received confirmation from the brass that the POWs were to be treated under the Geneva Conventions, which disappointed a few, I'm sure. I didn't care; I was just glad I was out of the mud hole. My squad and I were sent to secure their lasers, and keep a lookout for any other deserters.

I remember asking a Race male walking past me why some bombardment in Egypt had pushed them to surrender. He looked at me right in the eye, and told me that the ringleader had a friend named Psanok in Egypt.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Birithart-yamp I**

 _Like many fithp of his generation, Birithart-yamp is younger than he looks; his face is lined with deep wrinkles, and his back is cross-crossed with scars of varying shapes and sizes. He agrees to the interview during his break from operating one of the main lasers at Mombasa Spaceport, and we meet at the local watering hole, which turns out to be far more literal than I initially thought. I join him and several others in the mudpit as he cracks open a small keg of beer with his coworkers._

 **Q: You were stationed here during the latter phase of the war?**

A: Yes. My duty was much the same as it is now; I launched digitships that landed here back into orbit, and ensured that the skies were clear of enemy aircraft. It was not a busy time, as much of the war was elsewhere. I simply watched the sky, and enjoyed the quiet. The rain made things far more comfortable for me; I remember hearing from warriors who had been in the first landings, and had complained of how cold and dry it had been.

The only thing I did not enjoy was the solitude. There were only four other of my species with me, and the Race fithp did not speak with me much; many seemed apprehensive of me. They spoke in low tones when I was near, and would always keep an eye turret on me when I walked into a room.

 **Q: When did your routine change?**

A: All too quickly. It was my fourth day on Winterhome when I received a strange order from Message Bearer, telling me to listen in on what the Race fithp were saying, and to see if they were mentioning a broadcast from their former Fleetlord, or of some platoon that had been destroyed further up north. I was more concerned when the order specified that if they _were_ to mention it, I was to alert my commanders, and if the commander was the one saying such things, then I was to shoot him.

 **Q: Shoot him?**

A: In front of his subordinates, if I could do so. Then I was to be placed in command, and shoot any more rogues.

 _He sips from a massive mug of beer._

I did not know if I could follow through with such an order. Many of the less educated Winterhome fithp assume that my kind are little more than slaves, following the Herdmaster without question. We have thoughts of our own. We think. We dream. If we disagree with the direction the herd is going, we can chafe under the command, and challenge the Herdmaster, if it is dire enough. If enough of us do so, then it is clear that the strength lies with us, and the Herdmaster would step down.

Therefore, when my door was blasted down, and two octuples' worth of Race fithp barged in on the fifth day, I only offered a token fight before I rolled over and let them put their foot on my chest.

 **Q: What happened after that?**

A: They wrapped a blue sash around my stomach and head, to indicate that I was with them. They themselves splashed blue paint onto their scales, as it was the most abundant and readily available. Almost the entire base had mutinied, and the rest were quickly brought into line or forced out. I was sent back to operate the laser, and the mutineers declared on open channels that they had 'returned to the Emperor's fold'.

 **Q: Considering what happened to the Martyr Shistvan, weren't they afraid that they would be the next targets of the Fleetlord's wrath?**

 _Birithart-yamp calmly takes a gulp of his beer._

A: That was why I was sent back to operate the laser.

Message Bearer was still in lunar orbit, which meant they would have to use digit ships to bombard us. Our ground lasers were powerful, due to the need of pushing digit ships into orbit; they could not threaten Message Bearer, but they could certainly threaten the smaller ships.

I believe the Fleetlord realized that, which is why we were spared an orbital attack. However, that did not preclude an attack from the ground.

 **Q: Which is what happened, I presume?**

A: Yes. Another base, several kilometers away, was ordered to destroy us. The mutineers realized this, and so were ready for the attack.

 **Q: How did that go?**

A: I am still here.

 _He sips his beer._

I and the other laser operators destroyed many of the attackers' killercraft, and the ground forces could not push through the base's defenses before they were trapped by more mutineers.

 **Q: More?**

A: Yes. From a base closer to the coast. They came from the east, also covered in paint, though they had red on their males and landcruisers. The attackers quickly surrendered, and many of them decided to join our new herd. Since we had more blue paint, all of us decided to paint ourselves that color.

 **Q: Did you give yourselves a moniker?**

A: No. In their eyes, they were the loyalists, and the ones who followed my old Herdmaster were the traitors. They openly declared their victory, and pledged themselves back to Fleetlord Atvar. In pockets further up north and in the Middle East, others were doing the same.

 **Q: And that's when the Schism really began.**

A: Indeed. That is when the war became far more complicated.


	14. Chapter 14

**Jäger III**

 _After retreating into his study for a moment, Jäger returns with a few maps of Western Europe, yellowed with age, and slaps them down on the table. Patches of it are colored a unpleasant red, focused around the landing sites.  
_  
 **Q: How bad were things getting during that time?  
**  
A: Not the worst-case, but it wasn't the best, either. The Iberian Peninsula was on the verge of being overrun by the time the Eidechsen-Bürgerkrieg began; Madrid was a nightmare of urban warfare as the surrounding countryside fell, and the Portuguese were barely holding the line around Lisbon and parts of Algarve. We'd gassed the push at Lyon, but we still had four million lizards on a three-pronged attack; two million were marching towards Paris, half a million were at the Swiss border, and the rest had the audacity to start moving towards my own country's border.

 **Q: How were they able to advance so far?  
**  
A: Well, for one, we _did_ get hit by a relativistic impactor that temporarily made the Iberian peninsula an island, followed by an intense kinetic bombardment that took out a good half of our railgun stations. It took a good two days to really get back on our feet and start doing large-scale operations, instead of relying on small troop movements and all the defensive measures we'd set up.

Besides, we were pulling back to better guard Paris. After all, more than a fifth of the country's population was there at the time, due to everyone evacuating up north to escape Footfall. We could afford to lose a chunk of countryside that the Lizards bled dry to take, but we couldn't afford to lose Paris. And... I'm loathe to admit, but I'd say Paris is the most important cultural city in the Western world, along with London. The idea that the Lizards would try and destroy all of that art and culture was enough to make me shiver.

They were coming to destroy our cultures and replace it with their own, weren't they not? Would it not be prudent, then, to fight the hardest to save that culture over everything else? Factories can be rebuilt, and people can be born, but we would have not been able to replace the Louvre if the Lizards burnt it down.

 **Q: Were there any bright spots during that time?  
**  
A: As a matter of fact, yes. The Race hoisted themselves with their own petard when it came to invading Italy. The impact they used to soften us up for landings also caused Mt. Etna to erupt shortly after they landed in Sicily. Combined with the mountainous terrain, and the fact that Italy had been spared the worst of the waves, and they hadn't even taken a toe of the mainland.

Not to mention that the ones trying to invade Switzerland were stupid enough to, well, try and invade Switzerland. I'm sure you can find some old Swiss Guard who can tell you what a nightmare that was for the Lizards.

Still, we were preparing for the worst. We began to plant nuclear shaped charges in the ground, about thirty kilometers from Paris; if they crossed that line, then we would engage in scorched earth.

 **Q: Even if it meant nuclear retaliation?  
**  
 _Jäger gives a sad smile.  
_  
A: We'd dealt with the possibility of total nuclear annihilation for nearly fifty years. There were still millions of people in our countries who still remember what it was like to go to sleep, and wonder if they'd ever wake at all. We... we were ready to accept that sort of risk.

 **Q: Did the Schism change things?  
**  
A: A little, yes. Not as much as in other nations. We had the occasional surrender, here and there. A landcruiser crew waving the white flag as they dared to cross the line drawn around Neuchâtel, or some tired troopmales risking a surrender in Portugal.

 **Q: Why were there so little?  
**  
A: Fear. Fear of what their maniacal Fleetlord would do if he found out, but it was mainly fear of _us_. In Africa and the Middle East, many of the ones who started the Schism were doing occupation work, or were only holding the line. It's a lot harder to surrender en masse when you're fighting a large-scale war against a mechanized and numerous enemy who just lost millions of their people. Many were afraid that we'd just shoot them or drown them in mud, I'd wager.

I blame the Battle of Interstate 55 for that. Apparently veteran Lizards call it the American Cage, due to the horrific slaughter and abuse they underwent. I imagine they were afraid the same sort of thing was going to happen to them if they tried surrendering to us.

Though, the Schism still managed to slow things down. Now, the Race was having to make decisions; keep marching towards us, or stamp out the rebellions? Now, they had to wonder if there was going to be random uprisings in their landings here, and had to make sure there wouldn't be.

That gave us time to breathe a little again, and that's when the Supreme Commanders came to an agreement.

 **Q: What it was about?  
**  
A: That the only way to quickly end the war, and prevent millions of casualties, was an coordinated counterattack. On _all_ fronts. And not only that, but we needed to win the orbitals at the same time.

 **Q: Why so?  
**  
A: For one thing, the rain was finally beginning to clear, which meant we now had to deal with the possibility that any large-scale attacks would be flattened from orbit. And even if they weren't, then there was still the impact that Daniels boy said was coming in three weeks, and if that hit, then there'd probably be no way to win the war without some sort of massed nuclear attack that'd also probably wipe out the human race.

I still remember the awkward silence in the meeting room, when the American representative revealed a certain project that his nation was working on...

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Petrikov III**

 _Petrikov pours himself another cup of tea from the samovar, then adds in some hot water to dilute it. Swishing it around for a few moments, he takes a slow sip, eyes focused on something I can't see.  
_  
A: I was actually in the Kremlin war room with the President when he got the phone call from the American counterpart about what his country and NATO were planning. He decided to put it on speakerphone after a few moments, so I and the other generals could hear.

 **Q: What did the call detail?  
**  
A: The American president asked us to pull out the old contingency plans we'd made in the early days, before the ships came. The ones we'd made with various countries as though exercises, rather than anything we felt was likely. Not more simple matters such as how to transport our forces across the landmass, or if we needed to do joint naval strikes against the aliens. This was the _big_ stuff.

The Americans were calling it Operation Earth. It made sense, considering just what they wanted to do.

 **Q: Which was what, exactly?  
**  
A: Oh, nothing much. Simply the single largest military operation in the history of the human species. This was something that was going to make Operation Yi look downright minuscule in comparison. They were speaking of a coordinated assault on every last alien fronts across the planet. This was going to involve forces from my own country, as well as the Indians, the Chinese, and every other free nation who could actually contribute to the fight on time. Tens of millions of soldiers, moving in one offensive.

That was when the President asked his American counterpart if they were going to break out their fancy Archangels in order to claim the orbitals as well.

 **Q: You knew about Project Archangel? I thought the project was top secret?  
**  
 _Petrikov looks at me for a moment, then begins to laugh heartily.  
_  
A: Oh, we knew for four years! And they knew about our own Projects Drob' and Bog-ubiytsa for just about as long. And we knew that they knew, and they knew that we knew, and we knew that they knew that we knew... the unspoken agreement that neither would leak the information, in case the rest of the world had a shitfit over it.

 **Q: Drob'? I've never heard of that project.  
**  
A: Well, it definitely wasn't something we _wanted_ people to know about, even with the whole glasnost thing that came about post-war, and all the, er, troubles... technically, you can just pull up the documents, but the documents are only on paper, and in a distant archive near Apatity, dead-center in a region known for bear problems.

 **Q: Polar or grizzly?  
**  
A: Yes.

 _Petrikov sips his tea.  
_  
I'll be blunt with you. It was essentially a doomsday device. Dig out a _big_ hole, a neat cylinder. Line it with high-quality concrete, then fill with water about a third of the way. Put a hundred-megaton nuclear device in, then cap it with a five hundred ton tungsten plate. Wait for some incredibly advanced alien mothership to enter a trajectory over it, then initiate. Suddenly, you have a crude relativistic EFP that would crack just about any ship apart.

That is not a joke. The weapon was meant to use momentum, instead of being a penetrator. With optimal efficiency, you could send a seven million ton starship flying back fast enough for mechanical stress to rip it apart. This was something that'd put those stupid ships from that Independence Day movie on life support.

Naturally, it was the ultimate last-case scenario, as using the weapons would have done _horrific_ damage to the biosphere, especially the ones located near the Siberian methane pockets... This was something we would have used if billions of people had been killed, and the only thing we could do was ensure our destroyers perished with us.

 **Q: Did you actually _build_ that?  
**  
A: Well, we dug out a few dozen holes and filled them with water, but we decided to withhold the tungsten plates and nuclear devices until the worst-case scenario, to prevent accidents. It was also the fear of accidents that made us decide not to lace the bombs with cobalt, as a middle finger to any colonization fleet that came after the invaders. That, and because we knew the Americans wouldn't take kindly to it, either.

It is as I said. A worst-case doomsday weapon, that we prayed we would never need to use. That's why we put much more stock into Project Bog-ubiytsa instead.

 **Q: You mean your own ship.  
**  
A: Yes. The President agreed to the American counterpart's plan, after a few hours of talking, and ordered us to start making the preparations. After all, we now had a few fronts to get ready for, and this was going to be difficult to coordinate. Now, I had to speak with American generals, and Chinese generals, and even some from the Middle Eastern nations that hadn't fallen. Then I had to talk to a few others, as the day of the operation drew nearer...

I spent hours at a time with a telephone at my shoulder, talking to one commander about movements near Georiga as I also sent out orders on email to have trucks ship equipment over to Kiev. Not to mention, we had to figure out a hierarchy of who would be leading who in what area, considering how many different nations were getting involved in this.

That, and we needed to actually prepare our ship. Back before the war actually started, we were originally going to name it in the same theme as the Americans, actually. You know, something that evokes a divine being rising up and casting evil from the heavens.

By the time of Operation Earth, however, we'd named it _Chongqing and Mumbai._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Propaganda Video: Friend or Foe?**

 _Video opens to an empty screen. The Sierra Nevada mountains can be seen in the background, capped by a still-cloudy sky. An older man walks into view, wearing a gaudy suit reminiscent of the early 19th century, dyed in the colors of the American flag.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Good day to you, fellow Americans! Uncle Sam here, ready to talk to you about some _very_ important things."

 _A folding chair falls to the ground out of nowhere, landing upright, and Uncle Sam sits down on it. He folds one leg over his knee, and clasps his hands, a serious look on his face.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Now, I'm sure many of you have read the news, or checked the internet if you still have connection. I'm sure you've heard about the seeming civil war going on with the Race in Africa and Iraq, and I'm here to talk about that."

 _A Race male walks into view, with faded and cracked body paint in the standard infantrymale pattern. Uncle Sam plops a hand on the male's shoulder, giving him a friendly squeeze.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "This here is Ristin. Say hello, Ristin."

Ristin: "Hello."

Uncle Sam: "Now, Ristin here is like many of his fellow males, in that he wanted to just head home after coming here, and was just as appalled by the dropping of the Foot as you and me. Isn't that right, Ristin?"

 _Ristin nods.  
_  
Ristin: "It was horrifying. As soon as I saw the waves, I knew I could not be a part of it anymore."

Uncle Sam: "And that's why Ristin defected, my fellow Americans. Ristin is one of many dissidents, who have pledged themselves to our side so this war can end and they can return home. Unfortunately, there is the problem of knowing _who_ has defected."

 _Ristin straightens, a chipper look on his face.  
_  
Ristin: "Thankfully, we have our ways!"

Uncle Sam: "That's right. Ristin and his fellow dissidents have taken to painting themselves in bright, solid colors."

 _Paint suddenly pours down on Ristin, turning him red.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Like red-"

 _More paint falls.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "White-"

 _The last color pours down, and a prop bucket bounces harmlessly off Ristin's head.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Or blue!"

 _He looks at the messy Ristin, and twists his beard thoughtfully.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Hmm... I think we can improve that..."

 _He snaps his fingers, and suddenly Ristin is painted in a manner reminiscent of the American flag, with stars and stripes adorning his body.  
_  
Uncle San: "Much better!"

 _Ristin twirls around, showing off his new colors.  
_  
Ristin: "I feel like a slice of apple pie already!"

Uncle Sam: "Just one last thing."

 _He snaps his fingers, and suddenly a hat just like his now adorns Ristin's head.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Perfect!"

 _The two now stand side by side, with Uncle Sam holding Ristin's shoulder.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Remember: if you see a male wearing colors like these, don't shoot. Bring him to your CO, and he'll have our new friend brought over, where he can help the war effort. With your help, and his, we can win this war!"

Ristin: "Wanna tank it away, Sam?"

Uncle Sam: "You betcha."

 _An M1A5 tank suddenly lands behind them. Uncle Sam hops into the turret, while Ristin climbs onto the back. The tank speeds off, and Uncle Sam whoops at the camera. Stars and Stripes Forever begins to blare in a triumphant swell.  
_  
Uncle Sam: "Remember, everyone: America will not break!"

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Oyuunchimeg II**

 _After I manage to finish the meal put before me, Oyuunchimeg bades me to transcribe her story once again. This time, thankfully, she seems far more open to questions.  
_  
A: My life after the star-lizards were banished back into the sky was a tumultuous one, and it was one that was shared by nearly all of my people. The fall of Ulaan Baatar had caused us to scatter like sparks from a flame, even the ones who had lived in the city itself. Nearly a million of my people suddenly returned to the old ways of life, joining us as we roamed the taiga in search of good grass for our horses to eat.

The liberation of our capital by the Russians did little to change that. They interacted with us only on occasion, when their convoys met with our roaming homes and traded with us. They would trade us sweets and drinks in exchange for clothing, and sometimes they would be kind enough to also offer radios, so we could stay in touch with the world at large. That was a time all too brief, however, for the Russians went back south as soon as the meteors began to dance across the sky.

We were untouched during that time, and yet things changed little. Most refused to return to Ulaan Baatar.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: Many things. Fear, fear that we would be scattered again as soon as we gathered back at the capital. But not only fear, you see; there was also a sense of _shame_. You look at me with confusion, and I suppose it is something you would question. What was there to be ashamed of? We were outnumbered, and we had fought valiantly. You might say there was no shame in our defeat by the star-lizards.

Many would disagree with you, for people are irrational at heart, especially when we are in sorrow or anger. Do you think we thought to ourselves that there was no shame in losing, when we saw the great metal towering over our homes? No, many felt shame that a once-proud people such as us were the first to fall to the invasion, that if the war was won, the history books would forever say that Mongolia was the first to be conquered.

We are a proud people, even if outsiders think there is little to be proud of. And we do not take to a stain upon our national pride very well. Not in the slightest.

I did not wallow in that shame. I focused that anger for the weeks I spent wandering the plains, listening to the radio of the horrors in other nations. Many prayed for themselves and for others, when they learned of the destruction in India and China, and of the falling foot that nearly brought the Western world to its knees. I did not pray. I was filled with a great anger, and I decided that I was to hone that anger and direct it against the star-lizards and elephants.

 **Q: Is that when you decided to take control of your group?  
**  
A: It was better than simply waiting for either victory or destruction in the other parts of the world, and simply sinking into helplessness. I had us go and grab guns from the abandoned depots, and the former military men in our groups instructed us in the ways of using them.

But how would we use them against the enemy, one may ask? We had weapons, and we had a burning conviction that had gathered thousands of my people together under my family, but what could we do with those things? The fighting was far away from us.

 **Q: I imagine you ultimately did?  
**  
A: It was a week after the rains ended, that I came across a large group of Russians. They were moving through our nation without permission, but there was nobody to truly give it; the government was a phantom after the invasion.

I asked them where they were going, and I was told that they were ordered to move near the fronts in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The world was planning a big offensive; he told me. The biggest in all of history.

That was the opportunity I had been looking for, and so I asked them if my people could join the fight. They agreed, if only because they knew that each person who joined the fight, was a step towards success. This was something we could not conscientiously abstain from.

 **Q: So you were intending to go up against the forces of an advanced interstellar alien empire on _horseback_?  
**  
 _Oyuunchimeg laughs.  
_  
A: We were not expecting to be winning victory after victory, or dealing crushing blows to the star-lizards and their elephant slaves. We knew that many of us would likely die, and may never even see the enemy in the flesh.

But we went regardless. We knew that we would pay in rivers of blood in the fight, but if that would be the price of finally avenging our shame, and helping mankind win the war, even if by only a infinitesimal increment... it was a price we were all too willing to pay.

 **Q: How did that go for you?  
**  
 _Oyuunchimeg wordlessly reaches under her furs, and pulls out a stringed necklace that rattles with even the slightest of movements. At first, I think the parched white objects are some kind of stone, but I am quickly disabused._

Instead, it is laced through with Race fingerclaws.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Kông I**

 _Ret. General Kông Níngtoù agrees to meet me at Hero's Park in Shànghâi. I find him sitting in the shade of the park's main monument, watching the sunset. It is a beautiful blue day out, a view that would have been impossible to find in this city less than a quarter century ago._

Kông is a little above the national average height, with not a hair on his head. His face is deeply wrinkled, and I wonder how much of that is simply due to age.

 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Kông Xiānshēng.  
**  
A: It is not an issue for me. Please, sit.

 _I sit down. Kông continues watching the sunset, but motions for me to begin.  
_  
 **Q: During the war, you served as a general for the retaking of Chéngdū, correct?  
**  
A: Yes. I was in charge of the offensive to retake the city, and it was my job to corroborate with the Russian general, Petrikov. Personally, I was uncomfortable with such a large foreign force on home soil, but I ultimately put it aside; I knew that it was for the sake of my nation, and that we could use every warm body to retake the city.

 **Q: What did you do after Chéngdū?  
**  
A: I was ordered to move my men to the border, near Xīzàng. Tibet, I believe is the name in English. Now that the landings had been repelled, we needed to prepare our borders for any encroachments. Hán... _Korea_ was still afflicted with the Race; they hadn't attempted to march on Seoul, but some of them were attempting to push into our northern territories. In that same vein, we had reason to believe we could face another invasion from the West; Tajikstan and surrounding nations had fallen by then.

Thankfully, they lingered at the border when the Foot came, and covered the planet in rain. I consolidated my men at the border, and waited from a command from up high.

 **Q: Did you receive anything about Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Yes. It was six days after the Foot that I was informed of the planned counteroffensive. The President had quickly agreed to the idea, and was ordering us to get ready for the offensive. More men started arriving from nearby provinces, and were placed under my command, as well as the command of two other generals. This was a degree of mobilization I had not seen in my life, even when we were preparing for Chéngdū.

 **Q: How was that possible?  
**  
 _Kông chuckles.  
_  
A: People seem to forget that, even when we were caught off-guard by the landing in Chéngdū, even when the fithp bombarded our infrastructure, we were still able to field million-man armies in a matter of days to push back the landings. We had spent six years, using our vast industry and population to prepare ourselves for an invasion. We may have not had railguns like other nations, or some of the more advanced war technologies, but we had the single largest army on the planet.

And now, we had a month to repair the roads, and a month to move our forces to guard the borders. When the President agreed to Operation Earth, we still had eight days to prepare for a counteroffensive, and that meant we could bring our full strength to bear. We would need it, we realized; we were facing combat against millions of enemies, who had that time to entrench themselves, and now had the technology of the fithp to assist them. There were Schisms, yes, but that still meant a formidable defensive force, capable of hitting us from orbit.

Thankfully, we had a formidable force of our own. By the time the Operation began, the fronts across the Western border were fifteen million strong, and the front in Korea was five million strong.

It was time to show the aliens the full might of my nation, and to finally avenge the humiliation they had wrought upon us.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Igoshin IV**

 _The game of weiqi is almost complete; once again, Igoshin has managed to thrash me. We take a short break so I can better engage him in the interview.  
_  
 **Q: After Chéngdū, I imagine you were transferred out of China, yes?  
**  
A: Yep. As soon as we took back the city, the Chinese were basically all like "yeah, thanks, now get the fuck out". I can't really blame them, you know? Who wants nearly a million foreigners lazing about in your country with nothing else to do? No one. Well, probably no one. Yeah.

 **Q: Where were you transferred?  
**  
A: Oh, I was sent all the way west, back to Nizhny Novgorod. There were rumors that my squad and I were going to be sent down to the Caucasus to fight some yascheritsy, since they were almost done taking Azerbaijan, and we didn't want them to try and surprise us.

Then the Foot hit America and France in the balls, and suddenly there was a hot rain in the middle of winter. _Russian_ winter, too. Not the nice weather you get in some parts, but the kind of winter Westerners think of when they think of Russia. It felt pretty fucking wrong for a sudden heat wave. Nizhny usually has at least some snow on the ground all winter, you know? Watching it all melt away and show bare ground in a few minutes...

I don't like admitting it, but I was _scared_. We still had internet, and I remember reading about the devastation, and it made my asshole pucker right up. I mean, I'm not sure if people who were born after the war can actually appreciate it. A goddamn asteroid smashing into us like that? Mile-high waves, sweeping away entire cities into the drink? That used to be the stuff you'd see in bad disaster movies, the shit you'd crack jokes about when you're leaving the theater.

Same thing with an actual invasion of America. You didn't need to be some American redneck with an M-16 and a mobility scooter to think that country was impregnable before the war, and hearing that they were marching to Chicago made me wonder if the world actually _was_ ending. Me and my squad started talking about what we were going to do next. I was honestly expecting nukes to just start flying like spitballs.

 **Q: What was your reaction when you realized Operation Earth was underway?  
**  
A: You mean when the officers told us we were heading to Germany? My first thought was "Ah, fuck".

I mean, I wasn't exactly a physicist or something, you know? All I knew was that the big boys decided that the only way to get the slony out of Mumbai and Chongqing was to nuke them, and suddenly we were doing a massed attack on yascherit turf, the same yascheritsy who enslaved the slony and were using their tech for support, without nukes? I was expecting to be thrown into a meat grinder.

 **Q: They didn't tell you about how the cloud cover could protect from lasers and confound targeting for bombardment?  
**  
A: No. I was a private. And there were still tons of yascherit defections going on. I guess they were afraid we were gonna let it slip to some prisoner, then he'd change his mind and go warn his superiors of the shitstorm we were gonna unleash on them. I didn't know about any of the surprises we were hiding up our sleeves.

 **Q: So, how long did it take you to get down to Germany?  
**  
A: About a week. The army decided to move us in chunks at a time, so the aliens wouldn't see a massive army and realize what was going on. A hundred thousand in _this_ direction at _this_ time of day, two hundred thousand in _another_ direction at a later part of the day... We had to snake our way across a dozen little paths that converged in the Rhine valley and surrounding parts. Some of us were transported by boat from Crimea and sent to Italy, of all places.

Man, I got a lot of funny faces on that trip. Especially in Poland and Germany. I don't think they were happy to see millions of Russians swarming into their country again, rolling down their streets in tanks and IFVs.

...I may have cracked some rude jokes at their expense while I was there. You know, stuff like "Never fear, comrades! The Red Army is here!" or "The Warsaw Pact is back!" My humor was shit.

One German soldier got me back pretty good. I made some joke at him, and he just said something like "Looks like another war's gonna be won with oceans of Russian blood."

 **Q: How much did you interact with the Bundeswehr and other armies?  
**  
A: A lot. Since they were kind enough to help us get through, it was agreed that we would be privy to their generals' command along with our own, especially considering that my country was also planning a big offensive south into the Middle East, and it would've been hard to manage both fronts alone like that. Our generals could veto theirs if they disagreed with what they wanted us to do, but for the most part they just told us to suck it up and play nice.

So, while I waited for the big day, I did exercises with Germans, chatted with some Frenchman in the canteen, and helped Belgians move shit around. There was even a Brit or two, pilots who were gonna fly out against the yasheritsy.

I had to admit, it felt... weird, but a good weird. When I grew up, I thought that if I ever became a soldier and was sent to Germany, it'd mean World War Three had come and I'd be killing Krauts.

Well, World War Three had come, and I was in Germany, but I wasn't fighting Germans. I was fighting _with_ them, side by side.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Kim I**

 _Kim Sook-hee invites me into her apartment in Seoul, where she lives with her wife, Hideko Kouzuki. A rather petite woman, it is hard to imagine that she has six known kills under her belt, and still has her old rifle hung on the wall._

 _She sits me down on the couch, where she offers me some soju and imported Indian snacks._

 **Q: Thank you very much for your time, Mrs. Kim. Now, I understand that you were part of the ROK army during the war, serving along the border. What was your time before Operation Earth like?  
**  
A: The first word that comes to mind is 'tense'. I was as nervous as I can remember during that time. Not as much due to the aliens, though they were a factor, but mainly due to the North.

 **Q: Care to explain?  
**  
A: Even in good times, the North was an unpredictable element, hanging over our heads, since birth in my case. As a kid, you worried for the Northerners, and drew pictures of a reunified Korea to send across the DMZ in balloons. As an adult, you worried if there was going to be a sudden artillery strike coming down on you. And almost _everything_ was in artillery range, including the capital.

Things only got worse when we realized an alien invasion was coming. The North started doing more and more of its posturing, and we had to contend with the possibility that they would try to bomb us before the Race or fithp did! They started testing their shiny new missiles, and doing underground nuclear detonations, and claiming that the aliens were a Southern fabrication.

For me, that meant patrolling the border, keeping an eye on the radar for any sign of missiles or artillery. The Americans started trickling out, too, which made things worse. I mean, I can't _blame_ them, especially considering that they ended up needing the men. But... it wasn't reassuring at the time. I wasn't feeling ready, at all. I was given rather bare training, since the government felt that our small size and lack of support meant that quantity was better than quality.

 **Q: Would you say you were relieved when the Race invaded the DPRK?  
**  
A: That's like asking if I'm relieved my AIDS killed my cancer or something stupid like that. No, I wasn't relieved. One, because now there were Lizards a few dozen kilometers from my position. Two, for all I knew, there was going to be a sudden invasion from fragments of the Northern army. And three... they may have been raised by a tyrannical government to hate us, but they were still Koreans in our eyes.

I wasn't relieved; I was terrified. And I only got more terrified when I heard that Pyongyang got the uranium special. They allotted us a call back home as soon as the news came in, in case that was the last chance we had to talk to our loved ones. Thankfully, it wasn't. We only got a few border crossings during that time.

 **Q: From whom?  
**  
A: It wasn't the army, that was for sure. As soon as the landings occurred, half of the guys on the other side disappeared. When Pyongyang was vaporized, the rest disappeared.

Well, not all of them. We got a few terrified soldiers running our way, who felt they'd rather take their chances with us. Some wanted a suicidal charge, and we gave it to them, though most surrendered once the first few got shot. Others merely defected.

The rest were families, people who leapt at the opportunity caused by the invasion so they could reunite with their loved ones in the South. We let them in, even as the first few dozen turned into thousands, and then tens of thousands.

They trickled to a stop after a while, though, and then the Lizards came close to the DMZ, and stopped.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: The ceasefire. It was a weird time; it was almost business as usual, except the spots were being taken up by Lizards who decided to take advantage of the abandoned outposts. While the talks were underway, we played JPop at them, and they started playing their own music back. It was definitely one of the most surreal experiences in my entire life.

 **Q: Did the fithp's arrival change things?  
**  
A: No. I suppose we weren't worth hitting. Ilbon... Japan got hit a little, and China got hit a _lot_ , but we didn't get a single bombardment. It did, however, bring up a predicament for us. One one hand, the Lizards weren't doing anything, and on the other, the Lizards _weren't doing anything_. They just stayed at the border, looking awfully confused. I imagine we must have looked awfully confused to them, too.

I mean, it was a bit of a conundrum. We could either try to press our advantage and catch them by surprise, or we could simply consolidate our strength in case they decided to invade first. Ultimately, we started getting more guys at the border, but it wasn't a massive mobilization. Not yet.

The border stayed quiet all through Footfall, and then they tried a small attack. We repelled it, but it had us scared. Intelligence reports said that there were probably a million Lizards in the North, and unlike the Northerners, these guys were well-fed, well-armed, and weren't going to do pointless suicide attacks. Combined with some rumors that they were possibly using captured Northern soldiers as auxiliaries, and they were a scary conventional force.

And they could definitely deliver on possible nuclear attacks as well.

When we got orders from up high that we were going on the offensive in less than two weeks, the first thing I said was 'Oh no'. Nothing too flowery or crude, just a little 'Oh no'.

 **Q: Was it that bad?  
**  
A: Yeah, it was that bad. We had four million warm bodies, but these Lizards were already entrenching themselves deep, with help from the elephants and captured Northerners. And by then, the intelligence reports had confirmed that while a good many soldiers stayed loyal to their Eternal Leader or whatever the fuck he was called before he became hot plasma, many others were being used as auxiliaries.

Can't say I blame them. Many of them were afraid, I imagine, and those who weren't afraid were just happy to get more food and not worrying about thought crimes. There were probably half a million of the auxiliaries, helping the Lizards familiarize themselves with the defenses they'd set up for the past half century.

We were looking at trying to do a pre-landing invasion of the North, but now they had better troops and advanced weaponry.

 **Q: Did you receive support from other countries?  
**  
A: That was the bright side of things. At least now, the Chinese weren't going to help defend the North; they were going to invade it as well. Then the Japanese started coming to offer their own help. A quarter million men, and their boats. And some Northern defectors joined in, albeit under heavy scrutiny.

It was an... interesting time, when the JSDF and Northerners started joining us at the border. Lot of confusion, since aside from the occasional row with the defectors, now I had a bunch of bunk-mates who didn't really speak the language, and who had different routines.

 _She glances at Hideko, and the two exchange a warm smile.  
_  
Ultimately, however... I didn't mind it at all. When the order to attack finally came in, I wasn't full of despair... I was hopeful.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Johnson I**

 _Usually found at his home in Cheyenne, Gabriel Johnson is still an imposing figure as he invites me inside for some vegetable smoothies. The living room is a rather spartan place, which is rather fitting for a former astronaut.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for the smoothie, Colonel Johnson.  
**  
A: You can call me Gabe, if you'd like.

 **Q: Very well. Gabe, when were you first approached for Project Archangel?  
**  
A: That was about a year and a half after the discovery of the Flishithy and Conquest Fleet. I was a Captain in the USAF at the time, doing test flights for the F-22D. That was a high-altitude variant, designed to specifically carry ASAT missiles as one of the proposed countermeasures against orbital hostiles. There were a handful of incidents during that time, and I suppose the way I handled them was what got the Project's attention.

 **Q: Did they tell you what it was upfront?  
**  
A: No. They told me that they wanted me to be involved in another countermeasure program, and that was it. It was only after I agreed, and I was screened for Top Secret clearance, that I was informed of the project's true nature.

At the time, they had only built the rough frameworks, but what I was told was still enough to make me a little nervous.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: I don't use this term all too often, but the designs were _monstrous_. I'd had some experience with NASA beforehand, and I had a rough idea of typical procedure for spaceship design. As lightweight as possible, with rather fragile hulls as a result. When I was recruited, I initially suspected I was to fly some manner of SSTO pursuit craft, along the lines of the X-33 or X-37.

I was not expecting thousand-ton monsters with armor like battleships, and enough firepower to wipe out nations. It was almost like something from science fiction, and yet I knew it was frighteningly feasible. When they asked me if I knew anything about Project Orion, I wasn't too surprised.

 **Q: Project Orion? Is that the name of the nuclear propulsion?  
**  
A: The only propulsion that could possibly get that degree of firepower into orbit. Rockets were too unwieldy, and ultimately not powerful enough. Laser-propelled craft were deemed problematic, due to the possible challenges in building a powerful enough laser, as well as the proposed station's vulnerability.

Bluntly put, the only way to properly get a ship equipped with nuclear weapons into orbit, was to use nuclear weapons.

 **Q: Is that why the Americans didn't inform the rest of the world about the Project?  
**  
A: It's why we didn't inform the other world leaders, since we knew it would create a lot of legal hassle due to the old nuclear treaties. We didn't inform the public for other reasons. There was worry about a potential panic at the idea, and it was agreed that it was too important to be made public. This was to be the ultimate last resort, and we didn't want the enemy to have any idea of it. Considering that the Race eventually began trying to use the internet, it was a smart choice in retrospect.

Honestly, I am surprised we managed to keep it under wraps. It wasn't a small project in the slightest; we had thousands of people working on the ships, and this wasn't like the Manhattan Project, where there wasn't any internet. Though, like the Manhattan Project, everyone working on it was kept on base in Nevada, myself included.

Still, I sometimes wonder if there are some unmarked graves in the desert, serving as silent monuments to the lengths we were willing to go.

 **Q: What did you do on base?  
**  
A: Testing and consultation. I was part of the tests with the shock absorbers, which once earned me a cracked rib. I also did tests in CIC mockups, helping determine where the controls should be put, and what would be the best way to view the information coming in from the sensors and cameras.

I also tested out the revamped Space Shuttles in unpowered flights, to see how the extra weight of the missiles would change its maneuverability. That was about the extent of the testing for the craft, however. After all, we couldn't exactly launch a test flight of the _Michael_ or _Uriel_ and see how they handled the stresses of space travel; we could only test individual pieces, and pray that the rugged over-engineering would work.

 **Q: I'm surprised such an important and advanced project was meant to be rugged.  
**  
A: Well, unlike the Space Shuttle and other rockets, Orion craft actually perform more efficiently when heavier. We didn't need thin aluminum hulls; they were built more like pressurized battleships, meant to keep operating even if they were damaged. They were also crammed full of redundant systems, since we could afford to do so without having to sacrifice the absurd amount of weaponry we put on the ships.

And it was absurd. Between the two of them, we had four hundred missiles, both nuclear and non-nuclear, six hundred W48 nuclear artillery shells meant to be fired from a pair of howitzers, four railguns, and the glasers.

 **Q: Glaser?  
**  
A: It was the old term we used for the x-ray lasers the Project put in the spurt bombs. Ingenious design, really. The same initiations we made to propel the craft could also be used to power the lasers, which had ranges measured in thousands of miles, and were far more powerful than any previously-designed laser.

As I said before: the amount of weaponry the Project made was frightening, and that isn't even getting into the Russian ship.

 **Q: And it wasn't used before Footfall?  
**  
 _Johnson sighs.  
_  
A: People have been debating this for years, saying that we should've launched as soon as the Fleet arrived, or when the Foot was coming down.

The thing is, it was the weapon of last resort, and that's not a word I'm throwing around. The launch itself ran the risk of irradiating the area if the graphite pads proved ineffective, and if the launch _failed_ , there would be radioactive material scattered over a wide area. It was better to try and see if we could beat the invaders with more conventional weapons and tactics.

And if we had launched at the beginning, without the final preparations, and _lost_ , global morale would have plummeted, and the only way we could've won would've been to let the Russians use their doomsday weapons.

It was the right choice, to wait until Operation Earth. We knew their strengths, we knew their weaknesses, and with everyone coordinating with each other, we knew how to _win_.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Teegarden I**

 _Despite being nearly sixty-four years old, Colonel Mary Teegarden still works at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon. More popularly known as 'the Boneyard', the fields of the base are filled with retired aircraft from earlier periods in American history, and we walk alongside them as the interview begins. Some of them are in the process of being scrapped, while others are being touched up.  
_  
 **Q: When exactly was the 309th ordered to begin recommissioning?  
**  
A: That was June of 2015. I was a Lieutenant, then, and old Cayrel was still the commander here. Things were a bit simpler before the discovery. We scrapped, we preserved, and we stored. Occasionally we'd get an influx of planes; I still remember the smell of fresh sealant on the Tomcats.

 **Q: Tomcats?  
**  
A: Christ, I feel old. The F-14s, you know? Those were made more than seventy years ago, but had only been retired for a few years before the Fleet was discovered. We were actually in the middle of shredding them before we had to suddenly roll them back out.

Weren't the only ones, either. The first ones we were ordered to roll back into service were the F-16s, the A-10s, the B-52s... that was already a few hundred aircraft.

 **Q: Why were such old planes being rolled back into service?  
**  
A: Kid, you do realize we were facing an honest-to-god alien invasion, right? We were dealing with all sorts of scary-ass what-ifs. What if they outnumber us? What if they can neutralize our more advanced planes? We wanted every plane we could back in the air, even if they ended up being useless or something. Better safe than sorry, especially when the future of the human race is on the line.

By the first year, we'd met our quota, and I wondered just how far we were gonna go. Got proven right when we got orders to do the same to even more planes. Now, they wanted us to start restoring fucking F-4s and A-6s and even the goddamn Skyhawks... those planes were _old_. Half were octogenarians when the war started. Spent a few long nights wondering if we'd ever actually _need_ them in the air...

Then the Foot came down, and we were told to get the older planes ready for flying.

 **Q: So you were involved in the preparation of Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Yeah. I remember helping wheel out some A-6s literally two days before the battle begun, wondering just who they were getting to fly these buggers, and _why_. I mean, I should've known, but the propaganda from Route 55 had me rather convinced that we actually didn't need to get the rickety retirees flying.

I remember actually making a little gasp when the pilots started coming in, rolling out of trucks and buses.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: Because they were all as grey as the sky. I was expecting some greenhorns who'd been given a lesson in flying the planes, but these guys were all vets, from Korea and 'Nam. Volunteers to the last one, liver spots and all.

One of them... he was an A-6 pilot, coming over to take the plane I'd help wheeled out. I could see hear him wincing as he worked his arthritic fingers and got his flight suit on. He patted the plane and looked at me with wet eyes, and at first I thought he was in pain from the exertion until he told me that this A-6 was the one he actually flew in 'Nam.

That... that really got to me. My own eyes were wet as I watched him take off, along with all the others. It really hammered home the depth of this war.

 **Q: Care to elaborate?  
**  
A: They were flying up because every extra target in the sky, was one less laser to the important planes, like the Raptors or B-2s. Half of these things were pitifully out of their depth, and yet they were still going up. Those men were essentially going on a suicide mission.

It really got to me. This was how important the war was; these men had already fought for their country and grew old and finished their stories, and yet here they were again, for one last flight. Not against some rebels in a jungle country, but against the greatest threat we had ever faced, to free their country from its first ever massive invasion.

They had already bled for their country, and yet they were willing to give everything again, because they knew that the Lizards would _take_ everything. They were willing to die in droves, if it meant ensuring that their kids and grandkids would live free.

 _We pass by an old plane, one that looks downright ancient when compared to the retired F-22s and F-35s that are also in the field. A faded burn can be seen on its wing, the distinct shape a clear indicator of a laser strike. Teegarden pats it tenderly, smiling.  
_  
They were braver than I will ever be.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar VI**

 _The hologram of Earth shifts, showing the territorial gains made by the Race after Footfall. Only a few pockets of the Middle East remain free, centered around the mountains of Afghanistan and the coasts of the Levant. The only nations without any occupied territory are Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Likewise, parts of Texas and the Mississippi region are under Race control, as is most of the Iberian peninsula, the heart of France, and almost all of Sicily._  
 **  
Q: How many more broadcasts did you make in the time running up to Operation Earth?  
**  
A: I made one every day, using new information. After the death of Psanok's Martyrs, I used that development in my broadcasts, as well as reports of successful surrenders. I warned that any Fleetlord who was willing to slaughter his own males in such a manner was no Fleetlord at all, or even fit to be called a member of the Race. The Emperor, I said, would be ashamed of what had been done here.

It was after the fourth day that Straha began to make his own propaganda broadcasts, calling me a traitor to the Race who desired to see Home fall to the Tosevites. I was painted simultaneously as an incompetent buffoon who had bungled the invasion and killed millions of my own men, and as a treacherous creature whose machinations were subtly engineering a scenario where I could rule Home as a viceroy once the Tosevites enact their revenge.

He made outrageous claims against me, claiming that I had begun to wear human clothing, and engaged in 'depravities' with Tosevite females. In response, I claimed that he was a ginger taster, not knowing how right I was. His response to also accuse me of ginger tasting, and vowed that he would drag me out of the rubble of Europe and bring me back to Home in a cage, like the animal I was.

I simply dared him to try, and decided to ignore him as I made more broadcasts.

 **Q: Ultimately, how effective would you say your broadcasts were?  
**  
 _As a response, Atvar flicks another switch, and the projection of Earth changes once more. Now, there are fragments in Race-held territory, colored a bright blue. Three fragments, each the size of Alaska, dominate the Sub-Sahara region, and smaller pockets can be seen across Africa and the Middle East.  
_  
A: By the time of Operation Earth, over a million males had turned against Straha. Many could not surrender to human forces, due to the logistics of crossing hostile territory, and so remained where they were. Many allied themselves with human insurgents in the regions to help defend against any attacks to reclaim the territory. It proved to be a major issue for Straha.

 **Q: What did he do?  
**  
A: He started moving those loyal to him towards the fronts in Europe and America, and let the mutineers be for the time being. I suppose his logic was that he could simply crush them once he broke America and Europe.

 **Q: I thought he hadn't made any major gains after the American Cage?  
**  
A: Truth. However, there were whispers that he was planning to start using explosive metal bombs to soften up the front lines, after the two week deadline. I don't know why he didn't use them earlier, considering that he was addled enough to use the Foot. Perhaps he was planning on waiting for the cloud cover to clear, so the water wouldn't spread the radiation to his males.

It was of no matter, in the end.

 **Q: How involved were you with the planning for Operation Earth?  
**  
A: I was consulted as they made their planning, and ultimately, I was the one who proposed the auxiliaries after hearing of what was happening in Africa.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Saeed IV**

 _Saeed pours another cup of mint tea for himself, and opts against lighting another cigarillo as we continue.  
_  
 **Q: How exactly did the auxiliaries come about?  
**  
A: It was six days before Operation Earth. I was flying a patrol over southern Algeria when my squadron received the news of the transmission that had been sent from some Race bases in Nigeria. Apparently, the Lizards were offering to lend some of their manpower to whatever operation we were getting ready for.

I couldn't believe the idea at first. Surrenders? That I could understand. But to actually volunteer to join our fight? It was absurd. I was fuming the whole time when I was ordered to escort some killercraft to a remote base in Libya. My finger was on the trigger all the while, itching to shoot anything that stepped out of line, so to say. The moment didn't come, however. I just watched from the air as the Lizards waved the white flag after landing.

 **Q: I'm surprised the governments of your nation and the others were willing to even consider it.  
**  
A: It is as I said earlier. We were desperate. We'd probably held off the invaders longer than anyone else at that point, even if we hadn't had any big operations like the Russians or Chinese. Maybe our men weren't as numerous as other countries', but those few men had been fighting above their weight for months. Most were regularly pulling double duty, and it was showing. I was lucky; I simply drank unhealthy amounts of coffee. Others were taking stimulants to stay combat ready.

Not only that, but Algeria and Tunisia were still reeling from having to abandon their capitals, and our front was much larger, proportionately speaking. We were ready to follow the other nations into Operation Earth all the way, but we knew we were probably going to walk into a slaughter when compared to America or France.

So when some fresh meat comes in, we were ready to take it, even if they were Lizards. The other nations were furious, of course, saying that we were risking the operation, or that our 'allies' could easily be pulling a Trojan Horse. The former Fleetlord directly ordering the auxiliaries around only mitigated it.

 **Q: Did you take countermeasures against that?  
**  
A: Yes, which the other reason why we were able to use the auxiliaries. We agreed to split them up and imbed them with our own forces. For every killercraft in the air, there would be three of our own jets flying alongside it. The same went for their landcruisers. The troop males were to serve mainly non-combat roles; moving equipment and the like. Half of them weren't even allowed to keep their guns.

In exchange, however, we decided to be considerate of the prisoners. The standing order was capital punishment for anyone who decided to use the auxiliaries for target practice, though that kicked up a shitstorm.

 **Q: Did you interact with any auxiliaries during that time?  
**  
A: We had two in my squadron. It was actually rather amusing, seeing them follow orders quicker than some of my human subordinates while we did training exercises. I was still wary of them, of course. After a while, however, my wariness began to fade.

I must admit, it was strange flying alongside them on that fateful day. It really showed me that the old adage is true: war makes strange bedfellows indeed.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Yeager VI**

 _Yeager pours himself a glass of ice tea, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he looks down at the map.  
_  
 **Q: How intensive was the preparation for Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Intensive? This... kid, this was the single biggest endeavor in history. Every last nation on the planet, countries that normally hated each others' guts, were helping each other, working side by side and hand to hand. Even if they couldn't get their armies to the fronts in time, they still did _something_. They shipped supplies, or helped the more able nations pass through quick enough to arrive at the fronts.

 _He points at the map of North America.  
_  
Don't believe me? Just look at the American front alone. We had nations like Nicaragua and Honduras helping the Brazilian armed forces move into Mexico, so they could in turn help the Mexican army launch the offensive into Texas. At the same time, we had the Chilean and Argentinian navies moving into the Gulf to meet up with our own naval forces, while guys in Colombia helped maintain radio communications across the southern fronts. All to keep the Race off guard while our own boys moved in, backed up by the Canadians.

That story was being told all across the planet. We had Russians coordinating with Israelis to help liberate Syria and Georgia, Chinese and Indians planning to push into Pakistan together with logistical support from the Southeast Asian nations, all while the Australian navy got ready to assault the coast of Iran and keep the Lizards there distracted while Kazakhstan pushed to help free Uzbekistan with Russian support...

 **Q: What kind of manpower were we looking at, here?  
**  
A: Between our boys, the Canadians, the Brazilians, and the Mexicans, we had about eighteen million in the American front. We had four million North Africans ready to go into the Sub-Sahara, and the Russians were sending ten million of their own men to free the Middle East, with help from about two million Israelis and fifteen million Chinese... that's not even getting into mechanization.

 _He disappears into his study for a few minutes, then comes out with a list.  
_  
Here we go. Altogether, fifty-two million men, give or take a few. A quarter million armored vehicles of all kinds. A hundred thousand combat aircraft, ranging from fifth-generation stealth fighters to some goddamn Spitfires that the British pulled out of museums. Ten thousand naval assets, which included about fifty carriers and thirty revived battleships. For Christ's sake, we even pulled the USS Constitution out of Boston, for mainly symbolic reasons.

We were going to need it. We were going up against twenty million Lizards, backed up by half a million elephants and their defensive lasers. Not only that, but the rain was beginning to clear up, which meant it'd be open season for ortillery again.

 _He pauses for a moment.  
_  
The deployment of the _Constitution_ really got to me, as I'm sure the Russians felt when they started rolling out some T-34s. We were putting our history on the line if it meant even a slight edge, because they'd be destroyed if we lost anyway.

Can you imagine how I felt, sitting in Cheyenne Mountain with the President as we prepared to start the operation?

 **Q: I suppose not. Care to describe it?  
**  
A: That feeling... it was a sudden moment of realization, you know? That realization that this was _it_. Everything we had ever done in our history, every good or bad thing, every small action and huge action... led to this pivotal moment. This was what was going to make or break us. This single moment was going to decide the fate of mankind; no other war has come _close_ to doing that. This wasn't something we were doing as nations or organizations. This was something we were doing as a _species_ , united for the first time in all two hundred millennia of existence. It wasn't Russians and Chinese about to go into the Middle East; it was humans. People.

Everything seemed to fade away. Borders, ideologies... just _us_. Us, fighting for the right to exist as ourselves, instead as vassals to some distant empire. This was the single most important decision ever put forth, full stop.

And then we gave the order, and that decision was made, for all mankind.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Fourteen: Going on the Offensive_**


	15. Chapter 15

**du Jonchère II**

 _As we sit down for a while, du Jonchère glances at the famous photo hung up on the opposite wall, of people in Times Square looking at the 'Zipper' news ticker as Operation Earth is revealed to be underway.  
_  
 **Q: Were you still in New York City at the time?  
**  
A: Yes. I couldn't return home, after all; air travel was strictly forbidden during that time. Between the Race's missiles and the fithp's lasers, no one could safely fly to _any_ country. All I could do was call my family and hope they stayed safe.

You can imagine my terror on Footfall, then. My family was in Paris at the time, which meant they survived the waves, but I didn't know they were safe for _weeks_. Can you imagine that degree of stress, not knowing if your mother was alive, or one of millions of bodies soaking in the flooded streets?

 _She pauses, glancing down at her hands.  
_  
Life in New York was strange during that time. In all of those movies you watch growing up, the ones where aliens invade, there's always something involving New York. Money shots, I think is the American term. Maybe some flying saucers blow up the Empire State Building, or decapitate the Statue of Liberty. Legions of little green men walking down Wall Street, something along those lines.

And yet, when the real invasion came, New York was untouched. The only way to know a war was going on was to read the news, or notice how everything was being rationed. No cars in the street during that time, and no flashy advertisements in Times Square. The City that Never Sleeps was almost deathly silent. Most of the people actually in the city were seniors, minors, or single parents who couldn't leave their children to join the war effort.

 **Q: Where were you when Operation Earth began?  
**  
A: Walking through Times Square, actually. Imagine the coincidence! If I'd decided to go get my rations just a few minutes earlier or later, I would not have been treated to such a stunning, _historic_ , sight.

It first started when my phone rang, and I pulled it out to see all my working news apps start to flare up. _Allied counterattack into Southern France_ or _Missiles Launched at Iran as Russian Forces Attack_. Alert after alert after alert.

I looked up to see that everyone else was doing the same. Thousands of people, all stopping at once to look down at their phones. Gasping across the square, then people were looking around at each other, as if wondering if they were all reading the same things.

Then the ticker started saying the same things, and that was as though a dam had broke. We all began trying to call our family members, or just talking to each other in hushed tones, wondering what this meant for us.

I imagine that's how the people in New York must have felt almost a hundred years ago, on D-Day. Suddenly realizing that the beginning of the end had come, good or bad.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Kim II**

 _Kim refills my soju glass, then motions for me to continue.  
_  
 **Q: When Operation Earth began, what was the South Korean front like?  
**  
A: We waited a bit later than the Chinese to start, so we could better cross the DMZ. Not long; only ten minutes or so, so the Lizards would start focusing away from us.

When we actually began, however... the first few minutes were probably some of the loudest in my life. There I was, crouching in an APC, watching through my feed as the artillery began. And I mean a _lot_ of artillery. There were probably a few thousand MLRS along the DMZ, and all of them lit up at once, striking the old North Korean positions.

It was the kind of rumbling you could feel in your bones and teeth. _Thumpthumpthump_ , all at once, probably a hundred thousand rockets on the opening salvo.. It was nighttime for us when the attack began, but the glare of the rockets was enough to make the countryside visible. There was also the Chinese ships and our ships, too. Those were hitting coastal target to throw the Lizards off. I think there was also a few landings on the coast. I don't know; if there were, I wasn't there.

The elephant lasers managed to shoot down almost all the missiles, if the reports we got meant anything, but those rockets and shells definitely hit. I could hear the rumbling as they started hitting the bunkers and armor the recon and defectors told us about.

Anyway, as soon as the first salvo ended, that's when our planes went in, to try and mitigate the Lizard planes. I never saw anything like it; they were flying dangerously low to the ground, to try and avoid the lasers. Ever had a big fighter jet roar only a few hundred feet over your head? It's a good thing we had earplugs.

The second salvo started after that, but this time it was all missiles. We'd already flattened the first few kilometers of the front line, and now they were aiming at the further outposts, the ones that had the big fithp lasers.

 **Q: But wouldn't the lasers just shoot them down?  
**  
A: Apparently, that was the plan. Maybe the lasers could shoot down all of our planes, and all of our missiles, but not both at the same time. Like wheeling out those old automatic tennis-ball shooters, pointing at a pro, and cranking the speed dial up to maximum, and then you start throwing some from another angle. At least, I think that's a good analogy. I've never played tennis.

It worked. We only lost a few hundred planes by the time we were told to roll out. That was about half an hour after the rockets started blasting.

I was part of the first wave. We didn't go all at once, in case we got hit by the crowbars from orbit, which meant we were all wondering if we were going to be the unlucky ones. We rolled out quickly; this was like one of those more modern strategies. I think the Germans came up with the name, but it's all weird. We called it _jeongyeogjeon._ No trenches, no stopping. We just charged in as a mechanized force.

I must say, it was a, er, _peculiar_ sensation, crossing over the border like that. Like when you swear for the first time, or eat something your parents never let you. There was this place so close, yet so far, like a forbidden forest or something, and now I was charging over the line in an APC. We passed by shattered bunkers and burning tanks as we started moving further in, where the bulk of the Lizard forces were.

 **Q: Wasn't that risky, considering how many mines and traps the Northerners made?  
**  
A: Yes. Why do you think we have more leg amputees than the other countries? I mean, we avoided the bigger minefields, thanks to the defectors, and we have detection techniques, but sometimes you just have bad luck. Thankfully, I have good luck, and I still have toes to wiggle.

A (Hideko): _Giggling._ 私はそれのために幸運だ。

 **Q: What did she say? My translator's a bit old.  
**  
A: Nothing! Anyway, you were saying?

 **Q: Well, I imagine the entrenchment of the Race thanks to the Northern equipment was still difficult to overcome.  
**  
A: Thankfully, the Lizards didn't use everything the Northerners had. Some of it was destroyed by loyalists, and I guess they just weren't willing to use the tunnels during the worst rain we'd had in decades.

It still meant there were plenty of small pillboxes all over the countryside we had to handle. I remember when I had to get sent to clear out a bunker our air support had missed. We literally smashed down the doors with a ram we had in the front of our APC, then I hopped out and went in. The defectors were helpful; they knew where the gunfire would be coming from. I almost lost my nose there; heard the round zoom past. It balanced out when I took off the top of the Hallessi's head.

 **Q: Were there any surrenders during that time?  
**  
A: Not yet. At least, not from the Lizards. We had a lot of human auxiliaries surrendering to us. I was surprised that there were almost no civilians among them, actually.

Of course, that was over the course of the first hour of the fighting. I was at Koksan by then, and that's when we'd start encountering the civilians who'd been living under Lizard rule for the past month.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Almeida II**

 _After leaving the Mosteiro de Alcobaça, Almeida and I sit down at a nearby restaurant. Almeida tears into some bacalhau and some kind of yellow rice, and motions for me to try the customary bread and goat cheese the waiter has brought out.  
_  
 **Q: Where were you when Operation Earth began?  
**  
A: I was still here, in Alcobaça, and holding the line. We had to fight off three more counterattacks during this time, but none of them had the same kind of momentum as that first one. Of course, we were also running lower and lower on men and equipment with each attack as well. We looted our dead for ammunition, and occasionally even took weapons from the dead _Cameleões._ They were terrible guns, however; only the smallest of us could actually get our fingers through the trigger guard.

When I heard that we were to actually go on the _offensive_ , I thought it was ludicrous. But as the reports of how Coimbra had fallen, and how almost all of Espanha was under their control, I started to realize that maybe ludicrous was the way to go. It was better than just waiting in the mud.

So, on that opening day, I was in a jeep, waiting for the go ahead signal. I was informed that we were to wait for allied aircraft to clear the skies, first, before we began the ground attack. It was about ten minutes after the official 'start' that we heard reports of Arab aircraft flying over Espanha, and I realized that was our cue.

 **Q: What kind of combat did you see?  
**  
A: Thankfully, it seemed that the _Cameleões_ were caught off guard by our surprise offensive. Our own aircraft managed to destroy the nearest base, and we started driving towards the next one, in Torres Novas. We had to maneuver around a force sent from the base, and there were a few short skirmishes before we managed to lure them over a bridge we blew. And all of that was in the _first hour_.

 **Q: I take it that things became more heated in the second hour?  
**  
A: I feel like if you ask _anyone_ who fought in that offensive that question, the answer will always be _yes_.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Gorrpet I**

 _A rather short Race male by their standard, Gorrpet is one of many patrons at Dkolo's parlor. He comes over to talk, upon hearing my questioning of Dkolo._

A: You talkin' about Operation Kiss our Stumps Goodbye?

 **Q: Do you mean Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Yeah. Stupid name, but whatever. I was on the ground when that shitfit began.

 **Q: Oh? Where were you?  
**  
A: Khanpur. Er, you know, Pākistān. Crappy place. Nice weather, but everything else was terrible. Guerilla warfare up the cloaca, so bad that we probably only held three quarters of the city at any given time. Only started getting better when the elephants came along, and suddenly everyone got all scared of being shelled from orbit. Still didn't keep the occasional guy from spatterin' himself all over the base's fence in some half-assed attempt at martyrdom. Not to mention the still lingering army forces in the nearby city.

 _He pours some ginger over his wrist, then laps it up.  
_  
That's is how I befriended this little beauty. Really takes the edge off. Sadly, even the spice couldn't keep me from feelin' panic when your stupid Operation began.

 **Q: What was that like for you?  
**  
A: I was on patrol when suddenly all these panicked reports started comin' from the border with Indiya. Big Ugly armor suddenly stormin' positions here, Big Ugly killercraft launching attacks on our bases... orbital cameras confirmed that there must've been _millions_ of 'em, coming into our turf. One huge offensive, like that Deutsch blitzkrieg I read about.

I was ordered to return to base, and get ready. We had a single laser, the kind that could take down killercraft, and I started gettin' hopeful. Intelligence from up high started sayin' that the Big Uglies headin' our way had less armor than expected. Intelligence on the ground, though...

 **Q: Why? What was wrong?  
**  
A: The same thing kept on gettin' reported across the front by vets on the ground, or at least males who had friends that'd fought in Hyderabad.

"The Gurkhas are coming".

 _At once, a few males in the parlor hiss in unison. "Forsaken Gurkhas!" one says.  
_  
 **Q: The Gurkhas? I didn't know you feared them that badly.  
**  
A: Oh, why wouldn't we fear them, huh? Sneaky Big Uglies who seemed to practically pop out of the shadows when you least expect it, kill everyone, then leave their heads for us to find later? They were some of the only groups of Tosevites we knew by name, or could recognize on sight, thanks to those huge knives of theirs.

 _He laps up some more ginger._

The vets in Indiya started spreadin' rumors about 'em. Tall tales, as you Big Uglies say. Some said that the Gurkhas were some sort of special breed of Tosevite, meant only to kill, who had horns on their heads and curved claws. I heard stories about Gurkhas eatin' their prisoners, or rippin' out males' hearts to offer to some dark god. Some said that they could turn invisible.

I didn't believe half of them, but we all still had a fear of them, because of the stories we _knew_ were true. Photos of Race heads on pikes, or with their bellies slashed open by those knives, or... or the ones who had their cloacas taken as trophies.

So yeah, when I realized the Gurkhas were comin', you bet I was scared. We of the Race never had a word for demon, since we only believe in the Spirits of the Emperor, but this world gave us one, and its name is _gurkha.  
_

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Thapa II**

 _Thapa looks over some photos taken from the combat in India and Pakistan, and shakes his head sadly.  
_  
 **Q: I take it you don't approve of your post-war reputation amongst the Race?  
**  
A: No. It is a most unfortunate legacy that we now bear, not only amongst the Race, but amongst the men who have hearts bigger than their neighbors'. Demons, we are called, or war criminals. Savages. Brutes.

 _He looks at me.  
_  
Do I look like a monster, sir? A brute? No, do not answer. It is rude to demand that you answer such a question. Please, continue.

 **Q: Where were you on Operation Earth?  
**  
A: I was deployed to Pakistan, as was every other Gorkha. While some were sent to help liberate cities, or disrupt operations in the mountains, my fellows in the Eight were sent to take down the laser in Khanpur. We were helped by a contingent of regulars in the Indian Army, as well as the few surviving members of the Pakistani Army, who had been holed up in pockets across the nation, such as Rahim Yar-Khan.

To think, that a meager handful of months of invasion was enough to accomplish more than decades of diplomacy, between these two nations.

The Race was unprepared for the attack. On the large scale, the Chinese and Russians were invading from the North, while we took the East. On the small scale for Khanpur, there was the sudden attack from Rahim Yark-Khan, just as we attacked from the other side of the city. This was a most dangerous sort of urban combat, for we could not pause, lest we endanger our part of the offensive. But we are Gorkhas, and we continued to prevail.

 **Q: Did you receive surrenders during that time?  
**  
A: Many. In fact, the laser was surrendered to us within the hour, once they realized us Gorkhas were in the city. And yet, there were many more deaths, deaths that could have been avoided. Many times, I found Race who had taken their own lives, rather than risk capture by us. Many surrendered to the Pakistanis in the vain hope that they would be better treated, only to face brutalities from vengeful men.

The ones who surrendered to us were the ones who could not escape to the Pakistanis, or were too afraid to commit suicide. Some wailed to themselves, while others calmly asked us to kill them quickly.

Their fear made me feel almost ashamed of myself.

 **Q: Why? Aren't the Gorkhas known for inspiring fear in their enemies?  
**  
A: Yes. But I would argue that our intimidation is a tool. In war, fear is one of the most important tools. Fear pulls down the morale of the enemy. It breaks their ranks, and encourages surrenders. It is as Sun Tzu said: to win without fighting is the epitome of skill.

However, that is it. Fear was a tool to win against the invaders, nothing more and nothing less. I would not consider myself a brute. I don't rip out the hearts of my neighbors, or terrorize my young son. Just as I left my armor behind when I retired, so did I leave behind the idea of inspiring fear. We did what we did to scare the enemy, and nothing more.

But seeing the extent of the fear in their ranks made me worry. I began to wonder... I still wonder, if we crossed the line, and began to commit brutality for brutality's sake.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Lee I**

 _Arnold Lee can usually be found nowadays in Boston, where he lives with his wife. My impression of him, as he invites me to walk the Freedom Trail with him for his daily exercise, is of a small and hunched over man, with an archaic prosthetic leg. Nevertheless, he is quite the animated figure, despite his age.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview, Mr. Lee.  
**  
A: Ah, it's no problem. I ain't getting younger, and I think it's important for the next generations to know every grain of shit we sifted through, so they don't have to go swimming in it like we did.

 **Q: Then let's get started. You were a seaman aboard the _Missouri,_ weren't you?  
**  
A: Yeah, that's me. 'Cept I was actually a Chief Petty Officer. The Navy's a bit of a family history, and Mighty Mo' was basically an honorary uncle. My pops served on the _Missouri,_ and I served on it in the Gulf War. When it got recommissioned for the Big One, I reenlisted as part of the Old Blood program. I helped train the rookies to get familiar with her, since she's a different kind of lady from modern ships.

 **Q: How so?**

A: Destroyers and carriers have paper armor, for startes. I think the _Arleigh-Burkes_ had armor of what, an inch? Half? Armor was useless for the kind of combat they were designed for. The _Iowas,_ like Mo', they had armor more than a foot thick in places. And the same thing went for the guns. The destroyers had one five inch gun that could shoot a seventy pound shell at a range of thirteen miles. The battleships' guns were sixteen inches wide and could fire shells weighing more than a ton at a range of twenty six miles. And there were _nine_ of 'em.

Course, when war turned to electronics and stealth and power projection, the battleships went out of fashion, since they weren't really good for any of that shit. But when those alien sumbitches started a comin', we realized we might need 'em. For all we knew, they coulda had the ultimate jamming tech, or armor too thick for our destroyers and planes to really crack.

Of course, it ain't easy to go back to old tech like that, so that was why they wanted me. They polished her up a little with some fancy stuff, but they still had us using the old-school stuff. Hard work, especially when you're already an old man. But she was in tip top shape by the time of Operation Earth, and I'm damn proud of that.

 **Q: Did you participate directly in the Operation?  
**  
A: Course I did; ya really think they'd leave that to the fresh meat? I was aboard as we sailed into the Gulf. Ugh, I still remember the smell during that time. When that big rock hit the water, the shock killed a lot of fish. Not all of 'em, thankfully, but a lot, and those bodies floated _up_ , and started stinkin' up the place. Smelled like literal shit. The whole time I was on the verge of blowin' chunks from the stink. Didn't help that there was still a heavy fog over everything, thanks to the rock messing up the weather. Felt like I was in the middle of the swamp, even when I was miles from the shore.

And the worst thing was, we _wanted_ the fog to still be there. To make their lasers work harder to fry our planes, and to make it harder to target us with their telephone poles. We already knew where the targets where, which meant that we could get by by usin' pen and paper to aim the guns.

 **Q: What targets _were_ you hitting, anyway? It couldn't be too far from the water, could it?  
**  
A: Mo' and her boys were headin' to Houston, while her sisters went to hit Pensacola and Tampa. A big chunk of the fleet was there, since Houston was one of the bigger landing sites. We were talking half a million Lizards, with thousands of planes. Worst of all, they had three of the big lasers there. The ones that could fry fifty planes in a minute if ya didn't put on ablative paint or armor. The Mexicans and Brazilians were comin' up from the south for the offensive, and those lasers would've swatted 'em out of the sky like gnats.

We had three CBGs with us, but hitting those lasers would've been too high risk, when you have hostile planes _and_ lasers in the air. And missiles woulda been useless. That's why _we_ were brought in, along with the _Massachusetts,_ which was an earlier model of battleship. We moved in as close to shore as we could, along with the _Constitution.  
_  
 **Q: The Constitution? As in, the Revolutionary War frigate?  
**  
A: She was meant to be a ceremonial thing. Something about how the oldest active warship should get the first shot in on the most important battle in American history, or somethin' like that. Well, she did her old broadside, then turned around and got out before we even knew if it actually hit anything. Then the _real_ shelling started.

 **Q: How successful was the opening salvo?  
**  
A: We managed to take down two of the lasers on the first salvo, and as soon as the reports came in, the carriers launched their aircraft. Light ground attack stuff; the real bombers and attack craft were heading south to hit Little Rock and Montgomery. Still, the Lizards were caught completely off guard; I guess they still hadn't really gotten used to naval wars. I hear their planet doesn't have oceans. Just shitty salt seas and rivers. Makes sense, considering how, uh, _out of their depth_ they were.

They scrambled counterattacks quick enough. Before we knew it, a bunch of killercraft were bearing down on us, just as the rest of the fleet started their attack. We had modern CIWS put in, and that stuff managed to shoot down a few, but we still got hit a bunch. Didn't really do anythin', though.

 **Q: It didn't?**

A: I tell ya, this was the perfect enemy to bring Mighty Mo' back for. Everything that made it outdated, like good anti-ship missiles and torpedoes and all that modern jazz... the Lizards didn't have it. Their missiles were meant ta hit other missiles, or planes or tanks. They mighta well been spitballs for all the good they did against our armor. I can't imagine how those poor geckos must've been feelin', seeing the _Missouri_ take a poundin' that would've taken out half an air force and still keep goin'.

Our next salvo hit the last laser, and the killercraft started gettin' sent off by our own planes. Now, it was fair game. We hit armor columns, bases... then the lasers started comin' down. Not the kind meant ta hit planes, either; these were the targeting kind.

 **Q: They were using orbital bombardment on you?**

A: Well, nothin' else was working, so I guess they decided to bring out the big guns. Thankfully, it was still rough, thanks to the fog and rain; the first few missed. The carriers started retreating, and there were worries that the Lizards might try a nuclear retaliation, since we knew they probably had a few on 'em.

Gotta remember. _Michael_ and _Uriel_ hadn't launched yet, since we needed to divert enough attention in the first hour. Between the bombardment and possible nuclear weapons bearing down, we weren't in the best spot. We knew that, when we signed up. We still agreed to it, since we knew that it'd be worth it in the long run.

But that didn't we mean we had to fall back like that.

 **Q: And that's when the _Missouri_ charged?  
**  
 _Lee sucks in a deep breath.  
_  
A: I tell ya, it was... it was somethin'. The _Massachusetts_ continued ta shell the positions, but we charged away from the fleet, and just started firin' as many shells as we could. The loaders and barrels were facin' stress failure, but we kept on pushin', since we knew we weren't gonna last long enough ta worry about that. We had hundreds of shells, and we were gonna use 'em.

All that time, we were still gettin' hit by the occasional killercraft, or missile launched from the ground. Then the targetin' lasers came back, but they were focused on _us_. We deployed some old-fashioned smokescreens, and the captain ordered us to barn door.

 **Q: Barn door?  
**  
A: Put the engines in full reverse, and the twin rudders are pulled to centerline. Stopped her within her own length. Also slammed every loose item into the bulkhead, includin' me. Broke my nose pretty good.

It worked. The telephone pole that got a direct hit hit us in the bow, which had compartments to stop floodin'. We lost a lot of maneuverability, but we were still capable of fightin'. Mighty Mo' kept on shellin', and kept on goin'. One of the guns broke down, but that didn't stop the other eight from still givin' the Lizards hell.

Then we got hit with another pole, and that's when we started falterin'. We couldn't take on much more water, which meant that the last hit was probably gonna be it. That's when we found that a Race starship had entered our range, and that a digit ship was comin' down from Little Rock to take us out.

The rest of the fleet pulled away, and I was ordered ta abandon ship. Which meant _jump_. We started goin' overboard and inflatin' our rafts, while a few brave bastards stayed behind. I got pulled into a raft when I went over, and everyone started paddlin' like madmen. I turned around ta see her still shootin' away, tearing that starship apart like it was made o' paper. Then the digit ship swooped in, prolly expectin' to take her down, and got the same treatment.

Unfortunately, it still did enough. I could see the flames eatin' away at the _Missouri_ , and it was almost like seeing a family member die. And yet, _yet..._ she was still goin', all the way into Galveston bay, with her momentum gettin' her far enough when the water got too shallow. And then...

 _Lee pauses, and wipes his eyes.  
_  
I saw Mighty Mo' go. I'm not sure if it was an accident that made her magazines go off, or if somebody deliberately set it off, but off it went. There were still plenty of unexploded shells left; must've been equivalent to a tactical nuclear weapon. I saw it flatten what remained of the Race bases in the city, and knock the remains of the starship over. Nearly went deaf from the airblast, and some shrapnel damn near took my leg off.

I thought I was a goner, especially when the snipin' started.

 **Q: Sniping?  
**  
A: Well, the current was carryin' us close to the shore. Close enough for any survivin' Lizards and their APCs to start shootin' at us in revenge. There were maybe three hundred of us in the water, and they killed seventy of us before a goddamn miracle.

 **Q: Miracle?  
**  
 _We stop for a bit at the Boston river. In the distance, a few museum ships can be seen.  
_  
A: Well, the water was too shallow for the _Massachusetts,_ and she was pullin' away with the rest of the fleet, since they still wanted a battleship for any further attacks. Patrol boats were stretched thin, since we were doin' landings on the coast to search for human survivors of Footfall. I honestly thought that was gonna be it for me.

And then, guess who came to our rescue? Ol' Ironsides herself. She'd pulled back when the real fightin' started, then she turned back around when we had our last charge. You can't imagine how I felt when I saw that rickety ship come in, firin' honest-to-god broadsides and shreddin' some Lizards as we got pulled aboard. A few of the APCs managed ta hit her, but ya know what they say...

 _He looks at one of the ships in the harbor- specifically, a wooden sailing ship. A few patches can be seen on its hull, fresher than the others.  
_  
Her sides are made of iron.

It's funny. In a modern war for the planet, and what are some of the biggest show stealers? Mighty Mo' and Ol' Ironsides. Really shows that we were willin' to put our history on the line to save it. It worked for Ironsides...

 _He wipes his eyes, then stands straight.  
_  
...and it worked for Mo', too. She may be in Galveston Bay, but she's still with me, too. And she's with everyone she helped save on that day. And as long as we remember that, than I guess she's still with us.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Igoshin V**

 _As the game of weiqi reaches its conclusion, I continue to ask my questions.  
_  
 **Q: As I understand, you were part of the main offensive towards Clermot-Farrand when Operation Earth began. Is that correct?  
**  
A: Yes. I was part of the big push. There were probably six million of us there, doing an old-fashioned blitzkrieg right into yascherit-occupied France. We had a side-attack from Switzerland, and the British were doing their own fighting on the shores of La Rochelle. We went through the initial yascherit lines like the fist of Stalin up fascist ass. We almost got hit by our own artillery and bombs, that's how fast we were going.

It was completely chaotic. We had British planes fighting killercraft, we had German bombers hitting yascherit and slony forces on the ground, we had French planes getting knocked out of the skies by lasers... and we had us Russians engaging in armor battles, while the Polish spearheaded an assault right into Vézelay with light tanks and tracked vehicles.

 _He pantomines wiping his brow.  
_  
Those Poles were _crazy_ fucks. The Great Patriotic War gave them a bad rep, but I think it's undeserved. Despite being a bit behind in tech, and being caught completely off-guard by the invasions on both sides that individually outnumbered their army, they still managed to last longer than France, and actually destroyed more German tanks than they lost. Did you know that? I didn't know that until some Pole told me to look it up when I got too smarmy with my jokes. Seeing them in action really changed my opinion on them.

 **Q: What sort of combat did you see in the first two hours of the offensive?  
**  
A: A lot. I was _also_ in Vézelay, along with about ten thousand of my fellow Russians, eight thousand Poles, eight thousand Germans, and nineteen thousand French. It almost reminded me of Chengdu, except there was a lot of rain and French people. And there weren't any mushroom clouds over my head. Actually, it wasn't much like Chengdu. Just did my usual street to street fighting.

 _He encircles another three of my stones._

Two of my squadmates died in Vézalay, actually. That was another thing that made the fighting different; the yaschertisy were fighting a lot more viciously. I think the nerve gas at Lyon had made them absolutely terrified of getting captured, and that made them go _nuts_. They actually fought like us humans, which meant tooth and nail. Nearly cost me my nose a few times. Of course, it still didn't save them. You don't try to out Russian the Russians.

 **Q: But that was still in the first two hours, yes?  
**  
A: Yeah, yeah. We all know that the next hour after that was nowhere near as fun.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Rathbone I**

 _Now the owner of a small tea shop in London, Ret. Squadron Leader Lawrence Carlton Rathbone greets me at a parlor by the Thames, where we sit down to afternoon tea. A tall, hawkish figure, Rathbone only has a few grey hairs in his pencil mustache, which he strokes occasionally as we talk.  
_  
 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mr. Rathbone. Let's start with Operation Earth. You were a pilot in the RAF at the time, yes?  
**  
A: Yes, indeed. I was a throttle jockey, you see, flying the old Typhoon. Risky business, you must understand; the Chameleons and their Dumbo allies didn't just have the usual chuff and fluff. We had been instructed on the deadliness of their lasers, and so I was flying cherubs _four_ all the way across the Channel, when the offensive began. There were four hundred of us, but the enemy had nearly three thousand bandits in the air. Thankfully, our allies and temporary bedfellows made up for that gap in excess. We were going to need it, you see.

 **Q: When did you first engage the enemy?  
**  
A: Oh, I say I was flying over Le Mans when we had our first snappers. The lasers on the ground took a few good pilots, but we were able to polish off those unexperienced Chameleon pilots like a good soufflé. Then the flying tin openers came in, and we cracked open a few of their armor deployments in the area. Once that was done, we regrouped with our boys near La Rochelle, and linked up with the other Allied pilots near Paris herself as we began the push towards Clermont-Farrand. All in all, casualties had been minimal up until that point. We had lost thirty, and they four times that number.

 **Q: Then things changed?  
**  
A: Well, then the Chameleons finally got their act together, and began to, ah, press their advantages. Which meant for us that now there was a steel rain coming from the sky, and lasers glittering over Normandy as the digit ships started entering attack orbits over the region. Those pesky buggers were far more lethal than the killercraft, considering that they took down sixty of us in the first thirty minutes of their arrival.

Then, well, things started getting worse for our boys on the ground, now that we were being forced to withdraw to more advantageous positions. It was expected, of course; in fact, the plan _was_ to draw their attention, but it was a bit earlier than we would have liked. The only consolations we really had was that some lucky frog managed to take down a digit-ship with its ASATs, and that the angelic cavalry was going to come soon enough.

 **Q: That honestly sounds like a terrifying situation to be in. What was your reaction to that development?  
**  
 _Rathbone takes a sip of tea.  
_  
A: "Oh dear, it seems we're in a spot of trouble".

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Saeed V**

 _Saeed sips his mint tea for a few moments, then looks down at his prosthetic arm, flexing its plastic and metal fingers.  
_  
 **Q: When did you lose the arm?  
**  
A: Operation Earth. I was part of the first air wave, flying up over the Mediterranean to help the Portuguese and Spanish forces. The cloud cover was still heavy over that region, and it helped to protect us from the lasers on the ground. There must have been a hundred of us, backed up by ten killercraft painted bright blue. The last scraps of the Portuguese air force linked up with us as we began to clear the skies and bomb targets on the ground. All the while, I was worried. Worried that the defectors would suddenly help their old comrades, and start shooting us out of the sky.

And yet, not one did, even as they fired their own weaponry against the enemy. I cannot imagine how that must feel. Such a decision must have eaten away at them, like acid. I'm not sure, if the roles were reversed, and I was invading some alien planet for no good reason, that I could bring myself to do such a thing.

 **Q: When the Race counterattack happened, where were you?  
**  
A: I was chasing enemy killercraft over besieged Madrid when the steel rain came down, and the digit-ships began using their lasers from orbit to strike us down. We'd prepared for the possibility, since that was part of the plan, and so we began to fly beneath the cloud cover. Still, one by one, our aircraft were being taken out.

Funny enough, that wasn't what got me. I had to punch out when some lucky Race infantrymale managed to score a golden bb on my engine. Before I knew it, I was hanging from a tree, and my arm looked as though a crocodile had gotten its teeth into it. Strangely, it did not really hurt at the time; the nausea I felt at seeing my arm like that was the stronger sensation.

I managed to keep a cool head long enough to get free from my parachute cords and get down the tree. Then, I promptly vomited and nearly passed out from the pain as my nerves finally seemed to get the message. Worse still, I was behind enemy territory.

 **Q: How did you survive?  
**  
A: Spanish partisans found me. They'd been operating nonstop since the Race had invaded their nation, and it was thanks to them that Madrid had to be besieged instead of conquered outright. They treated my wounds, then half-carried me over to some old castle they'd made into a hideout. It was rather funny, if you know your history. The idea of Spanish guerillas helping an Arab soldier, instead of fighting.

By then, the steel rain had finally stopped, and the Race counterattack was coming to an end, though we didn't know at the time. The only sign we got was when the radio kept on playing scattered reports of _something_ flying up, and I didn't know enough Spanish to understand what they meant.

After all, why would I need to know the Spanish word for Archangel?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Kông II**

 _Kông doesn't bother to pull up maps as he tells me about Operation Earth, unlike other generals I have interviewed. Instead, he simply closes his eyes and tells me of the more important gains and losses.  
_  
A: By the time of the counterattack, we had pushed down to Kuson on an even front, and we were only a few kilometers away from the Indian Army at some places in Pakistan. The farthest south we got was Mingora. The Russians had retaken Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and were at the borders of Iran and Afghanistan. We had faced disorganized resistance, partly due to the Schism, and partly due to the element of surprise. Casualties were in the low thousands by the time of the counterattack.

 **Q: And then?  
**  
A: The orbital bombardment across the planet was the heaviest since the arrival of the fithp. We lost nine hundred tanks in Pakistan. The Russians suffered the heaviest casualties, due to their broader front; I believe they lost two thousand altogether. Aircraft losses were less heavy, only numbering at three hundred.

When the Race pushed back against us, they managed to retake Mingora from us, and half of Tajikstan from the Russians. It was worse, elsewhere; I believe they managed to retake much of Nigeria from the African offensives. The sheer speed and ferocity of this manner of warfare was unseen in history; much of the time, the rate of advance on either side was limited by the speed at which their vehicles could drive. The losses grew great during this hour; we suffered nearly a hundred thousand losses across the planet, while they suffered eighty thousand.

However, these losses were not in vain. As a result of having to divert their orbital firepower, the digit-ships were unable to properly respond to what was the _true_ offensive. I still remember watching the footage as the salvation of mankind rose into the air, seemingly splitting the very sky apart with their thunderous propulsion.

Suffice to say, things changed greatly after that.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **A Scrapbook of the War for Earth, Chapter Seven**

 _More reports are coming in from all over the world, and they're all telling the same story... confirmed reports of orbital shelling near Paris, we're working to get it onscreen, and there's also been reports of shelling in Pakistan and Georgia... it seems that the offensive is facing stiff opposition, but I'm not sure if..._

Hold on. Hold on. Just a... is this right? Yes. We have

 ** _confirmed_** _reports coming straight from the White House, that the military has launched some sort of spacecraft, and it's... oh, they say the spacecraft actually using **atomic bombs** to propel themselves, and that people in the surrounding areas are to avert their eyes from the glare. The first images are coming in, let's put them onscreen..._

Oh my god. This... it seems that the military has actually created a pair of **warships** , folks, this looks... wow. Yes, more reports are coming in from the White House, they say these are called the Archangels Michael and Uriel... Michael and Uriel, those seem to be references to the Bible. These, uh, these seem to be meant to engage in combat agains the mothership in orbit, and, uh, yes, the White House says these are meant to win back Earth orbit.

Ladies and gentlemen, this seems to be it. This... this is history.

 **\- Live CNN news report on the launch of the Archangels.  
**  
 _I was just tending to my victory garden when the flashes came from beyond the mountains. I didn't know what was going on, at first. I thought it might've been some sort of Lizard bomb going off, and I was about to run inside when I saw them rise over the mountains. Thank God I looked away from the next flash. They must've been a hundred miles away, and it was still pretty damn bright._

Yeah, I saw the two of 'em rising into the air, flash after flash after flash. I had no idea what they were at the time, but all I could think was how they looked like angels on pillars of fire. I wasn't a very devout man, but... it certainly felt like Judgment Day had come.

 **\- Eugene Jones, a native of Santa Fe, on watching the launch of the Archangels.  
**  
 _EXPLOSIVE METAL BOMB INITIATIONS DETECTED IN NEW MEXICO. POSSIBLE SIGHTINGS OF TOSEVITE SPACECRAFT.  
_  
 **\- Alert sent to Race forces in America.  
**  
 _We interrupt the report on the counterattack to inform the Russian people that a warship of our own design has launched from a location near Blysk. It, like the American spacecraft currently entering low Earth orbit, is propelled by nuclear bombs. All residents in the highlighted areas are to head indoors, and to not look at the sky as the warship rises to meet with the Americans._

 _Godspeed, **Chongqing and Mumbai.** Avenge your namesakes._

 **\- Russia 1 report of the launch of _Chongqing and Mumbai,_ twenty minutes after the launch of the Archangels.  
**  
 _Exalted Fleetlord, we've received satellite imaging of the Tosevite spacecraft, and it is not a good odor. It appears they are being propelled by explosive metal bombs, of all things! The imaging also indicates that they may be heavily armed, and... just a moment, I've lost contact with the **Ustiv**. The **Shanak** is also dark. Wait, I'm getting reports of high levels of gamma rays... By the Emperor, I think they have-  
_  
 **\- The last transmissions from the 117th Emperor Yower, shortly before being destroyed by a gamma ray laser.  
**  
 _And so, it seems the Winterhome fithp have replied to our Foot with their own Claws. Their madness is truly insurmountable.  
_  
 **\- Octuple Leader Bithurkator-lemp, upon seeing the battle for low Earth orbit begin.  
**  
 _And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven._

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

 **\- A message broadcast across all American military channels, five minutes after the launch of the Archangels.**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Fifteen: Operation Earth_**


	16. Chapter 16

**Johnson II**

 _Johnson refills his veggie smoothie glass, then folds his hands over his lap as I continue the interview.  
_  
 **Q: What was the combat in Low Earth Orbit like?  
**  
A: It was a collection of rather tense moments. The first of said moments was the launch itself. We were based in New Mexico, near the border with Colorado, which thankfully meant there were no civilians nearby to endanger. However, there was still a worry that our thrust bombs would have a, er, mishap. It's not terrible if the first bomb misfires, actually. That means the ship simply stays put. If the _second_ bomb fails, however, then the ship would hit the ground hard, and most likely be too damaged to fly.

Thankfully, there were no such mishaps as we took off. The launch was different from that of a rocket; there was no steady acceleration, but a constant jolt. _Wham, wham, wham_ , as though God Himself was knocking.

Though the launch was successful, there was still the worry that we would be intercepted on our way to orbit by enemy craft, whether they be killercraft or digit-ships. Half of the nation's railguns were focused on ensuring we were unmolested, and nearly a hundred Raptors served as a sort of escort craft. One digit-ship attempted to intercept us, but it was shot down. No killercraft were able or willing to approach.

 **Q: What happened once you were in orbit?  
**  
A: That was when we were finally able to use our glasers, and the fighting could start. The highest-priority targets were the digit-ships, due to the fact that they possessed weapons, and were in the middle of bombarding our ground forces. Many of them began to cease their attacks when they detected us.

This was the part of the battle that the _Michael_ was most suited for. The _Uriel_ was a high-speed pursuit vessel, designed to chase enemy ships in case they left cislunar orbit, but that came at the cost of having only two railguns and far fewer missiles. The _Michael_ was definitely meant more to clean the orbitals.

 **Q: And how well did it perform that job?  
**  
A: Very well. The first two digit-ships in range were destroyed by glasers before they could even attack us. For once, we had the edge in laser technology; the fithp lasers were infrared, meant for anti-missile and propulsion roles, which also meant they were not designed to damage heavily armored targets. Our glasers, however, only needed to be fired once, and were capable of destroying their digit-ships with ease.

The next digit-ships offered more of a fight, as they fired missiles before actually appearing from below the horizon. For those, we needed to use our inferior infrared missiles and CIWS systems. Thankfully, the few missiles that _did_ make an impact hit our armored shield, and did no damage.

 **Q: What happened when the Russian ship launched?  
**  
A: That was a few minutes later. It had to engage some digit-ships by itself, and lacked glasers. The Russian philosophy was simply point defense weapons, and over eight hundred nuclear missiles, a third of which were armed with Casaba howitzers and small-scale NEFPs. It received some damage to its point-defense guns, but managed to destroy six digit-ships before it rendezvoused with us over Africa.

By that point, we had destroyed ten digit-ships of our own, and the rest had retreated.

 **Q: Retreated?  
**  
A: They made emergency landings in occupied territory, once they realized that we were capable of beating them. They were unwilling to expend more equipment against us when it did nothing, and especially when we began to destroy any Race starships still in orbit. I believe we destroyed about twenty of them.

That was about an hour's worth of fighting, but the most important part was still yet to come. The _Flishithy_ and the rest of the Conquest Fleet was still in lunar orbit, and so we needed to go after them if we wished to end the war.

Due to having the lowest delta-v, the _Chongqing and Mumbai_ stayed in orbit, to ensure the digit-ships did not attempt to reassert orbital supremacy as we went after the mothership. The _Uriel_ and _Michael_ , the latter of which I was on, were the ones to make the burn to the Moon.

 **Q: How long was that going to be?  
**  
A: Six hours. For me, that meant staying in the cockpit of the _Endeavor_ and making sure the missiles were ready to launch once combat began. For the rest of the world, however, that meant they could resume the ground war, and finally not need to worry about what was over their heads.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Perry II**

 _As Teerts goes into another room to fetch a bag of potato chips and some peanut butter, I decide to continue the interview with Miss Perry.  
_  
 **Q: When Operation Earth commenced, did you see combat?  
**  
A: Not immediately. Only a few planes were up in the air at the time, since we were waiting for the Archangels to fly, y'know? I still wasn't in the air until after the counterattack. Thankfully, we got off lighter than other countries in that regard, since we still had more than a few Ow guns operating.

Once the Archangels went up, though, and they cleared the sky, we were good to go. I rolled out of an airfield near St. Louis, along with a few squadrons of Lightings and Raptors. Our mission was to escort a bomber fleet to Little Rock, where one of the biggest landing sites was. I'm talking a good fifty B-52s, with about a third of the entire B-2 inventory alongside it. We had Canadian planes flying with us, too. Lot of older stuff, but they knew how to use it.

I was over Poplar Buff when I saw the first killercraft. They were already engaging other aircraft- the Graywings. Y'know, the 'Nam and Korea vets in their old planes? Must've been about fifty of the old vets, flying against seventy bandits. I'm almost embarrassed _for_ those Race pilots. I guess they must have been fresh meat, because they hadn't gotten an edge over the Graywings by the time we rolled in and took them out.

The air offensive was really kicking into high gear by the time we crossed the border.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: Well, it almost felt like something from those old WWII films. There were literally tens of thousands of us in the air, in a massive coordinated attack. We had hundreds, maybe thousands, of Graywings and drones flying up ahead, doing light bombing runs, drawing away killercraft, and soaking up laser fire so the more advanced planes could score hits in. Thousands of rockets and artillery shells arcing through the air, too.

We had Thunderbolts doing their little 'brrrrt' routine over any landcruiser column they could find, and there were hundreds of helicopters providing close support for our boys on the ground. What's more, we had help from Mexican and Brazilian fighters, too. Between us and them, the Race was in a bit of a pickle.

I could only see so much of it at any time, but on my AR feed... it was as though I could see the entire air battle at once, and it made me feel small.

 **Q: You said 'soaking up laser fire'. How dangerous were the fithp ground lasers during this stage?  
**  
A: Bad. They took more of us out than the killercraft, by a fucking mile. I think we lost nearly eighteen hundred. Still not as bad as the Race, though. They were almost completely out of the sky by the time our bombers arrived. The lasers took down eight B-52s, but that still left plenty to drop their payloads.

Our bombing runs were all made within ten minutes of each other, across the country. Little Rock? We flattened the starships there, as well as the bases in the city. Same thing for Montgomery, Dallas, Memphis... we probably dropped a few thousand tons of explosives all across those places.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: The bombers started flying back to St. Louis, while we started offering air support to the troops on the ground. By then, the Archangels were already heading to the Moon to go after the rest of the spaceships.

I have to say, it felt _good_ , finally winning back the sky.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Oyuunchimeg III**

 _Rattling the fingerclaws for extra effect, Oyuunchimeg proceeds to tell me the story of how she procured them.  
_  
A: When the fight to win the world began, my people and I were in the region you call Hindu Kush, near northern Afghanistan. The Russians had helped to bring us there, but otherwise their presence was less than that of a phantom.

 **Q: Why was that?  
**  
A: The region we were to fight in was incredibly mountainous and rough terrain. To use their armored vehicles would be foolish, and so the Russians decided that we were best suited to fight in that area, as our horses could traverse it with greater speed and nimbleness. They gave us weapons suited for fighting tanks, as the Russian designs are so simple a child could use them. Which they have.

As the Russians met with the star lizards in other parts of the nation as the battle began, my people rode into the valleys and hills of the Kush, to root out the star lizards who were foolish enough to try and invade the region. The rains had done them little good, though the ground was dry when we rode.

 **Q: What kind of combat did you see?  
**  
A: The former soldiers led many of the combat operations, though they ultimately answered to my husband and I. We would direct them to attack certain locations, and they would do it. I personally rode out against the enemy.

The star lizards were disorganized by the difficulties offered by the land. Many of their precious landcruisers had become stuck in mud, or simply could not climb out of the valleys they had descended into. The cold, too, was their enemy. Many of the bodies we found had died to the frost, rather than the bullet.

Without their machines, their advantages against us had been lost. No longer could they hide behind their armor, or bomb us from a distance with their planes, not as the rest of the world challenged them for the skies. They were limited to invading on foot, or in carts they had seized from the locals. They were tired, demoralized; the partisan fighting had already taken its toll upon them, and they stood little chance against us.

In the first two hours, we encircled four groups of star lizards, the largest of which was three thousand strong. We numbered nearly fifty thousand. Our tactics were fairly simple; the more skilled riders would catch them by surprise, then quickly retreat. When the scaly devils went to pursue, the rest of us would attack from the flank, using our numbers against them. They invariably managed to shoot a few of us, but we had guns as well., and they were slaughtered.

We were unimpeded by the bombardments from the sky, as none were willing to expend such weapons on horseback riders. As we continued south, we picked off the stragglers, and occasionally had to do battle with a stranded landcruiser or two, whose crews had stayed put. For those, we needed to use the Russian weapons, and a number of us would die to distract their guns as we took aim with our own.

 _She pulls back some of her clothes, revealing a faded scar under her right breast.  
_  
This was from such an encounter. We were sure to enact repayment upon the crew after they climbed out, hands raised.

 _She rattles the claws again._

It was a story told many times that day. Often, the crews would surrender, hoping that they would be given humane treatment. Their hopes were in vain.

 **Q: You killed prisoners?  
**  
A: Yes. Sometimes, we simply shot them. Other times, riders whose families had been harmed by the initial landing were allowed to enact vengeance. We gave them knives for that. The landcruiser crews who surrendered after killing a number of us had ropes about their necks, and were forced to keep up with us as we rode on. If they survived until the next fight, they were granted the mercy of a bullet.

That was what we did, from the border to Zebak.

 _She frowns.  
_  
You look at me with the judgmental eyes of one who does not truly understand. You must see me as a brute, or my people as the savage hordes the rest of the world saw our ancestors as. Smelly, horse-riding barbarians, whose scruples had not changed since the time of Chingis himself.

You forget that we were farmers or shepherds before this war, that many of us lived peaceful lives. Most of us had never shot anything bigger than a hare. We were not soldiers, but simply people who wished to enact a measure of revenge, or justice, or even closure.

That is the price of war. The suffering and shame we endured by being the first to fall to the star lizards was like a wound on us, allowed to fester over the weeks. Many of the riders who came with us were those who had lost someone they knew, whether it be a brother or wife or friend. We had been scattered back to the plains by the capture of Ulaanbaatar, and there was a great deal of worry amongst us after the destruction of Chongqing, that perhaps the fallout would come to our land and ruin the scant farmland we had left.

So yes, when we got our hands upon the star lizards, many of whom had killed our fellow riders before we captured them, we allowed that anger to push us to depths we normally never fathomed. Many of us are haunted by those times, but what was done is done, and nothing can change that. The bones around our necks are not simply trophies; they are reminders of what pain can do to us, and we hope we may never let it twist us again.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Hakmon III**

 _After her husband finishes filming the comedy video, Hakmon disappears for a few minutes, then returns with something under her arm.  
_  
 **Q: A box?  
**  
A: Just some mementos. You can continue with the questions.

 **Q: Very well. Now, unless I am mistaken, you and your unit was caught behind enemy lines during the counterattack, yes?  
**  
A: Yes. After the Schism began, I was transferred to be part of the Arabian offensive, as we suddenly had less pressure on the Tigris. On the day of Operation Earth, we launched an offensive of more than half a million down through the Arabian peninsula. Parts of it had been reclaimed, while other swaths of the region had turned during the Schism, so we were actually very far down south when the counterattack began.

 **Q: How far south?  
**  
A: We were actually past Medina. Then the orbital artillery came down, and a desert isn't the best place to try and take cover, which would have spelled disaster for us, if not for the haboobs.

 **Q: Haboobs?  
**  
A: Large sandstorms. Very common in the Arabian peninsula, especially after the collapse of a thunderstorm. They were all over the place, thanks to Footfall. It didn't impact the air war very much, except for the sand making the lasers useless, but it did have a big impact for us on the ground. Normally, it's never a good idea to drive into a haboob, but it was better than getting hit by flying crowbars.

It actually worked. We lost only ten thousand men, and about three hundred Merkavas. Getting the sand out of your unmentionables was a very unpleasant experience, and the storms themselves claimed a few lives. Still... I dread to imagine what would have happened if there were no storms, and we were just out in the open to get hit.

During that time, we had encounters with Race forces, who were actually better suited to desert fighting than us. Those fights were some of the few times I could remember where they actually began to beat us. We lost another fifty thousand men during the fighting all across the peninsula.

Thankfully, when the Archangels rose, many of the Race attacks stopped cold, and that let us fight them off.

 **Q: When the Race counteroffensive ended, how bad was the situation?  
**  
A: There were still about half a million Race males in the southern Peninsula, after the offensive ended. Near the mountains, which was where I was, there were about eighty thousand of us, surrounded on all sides. The rest of the IDF and allies were liberating Riyadh, or heading to Oman and Yemen. That meant we were unlikely to be bailed out.

So, we decided to make a mad dash for the nearest outpost of fighters, and hope that our surprise offense would serve as the defense against the Race forces surrounding us, at least until we managed to regroup with some fighters and not have to worry about guarding our flanks.

 **Q: And where was this outpost?  
**  
 _Hakmon smiles nervously_

A: Mecca.

 **Q: You fought at _Mecca?  
_**  
A: Well, it actually made sense. The city hadn't fallen during the invasion; apparently, the Race had a rare moment of sanity, and realized that damaging the most holy site in Islam before they could pacify the region would make the partisan fighting too savage and widespread to quell, especially when they still had fronts nearby. There were a hundred thousand partisans, protecting the city as the Race laid siege.

And not to mention, all of the Arab soldiers in our ranks wanted to lift that siege.

The mad dash to the city actually worked; the Race was caught off guard, and we managed to break through the siege lines that were about ninety thousand strong. The Arab soldiers went to bolster the partisans, while us non-Muslims were still initially kept outside the Qu'ran Gate.

The fighting was intense. I think hearing the news about the Archangels really made the Race desperate, since they realized the gravity of the situation. It still didn't keep them from maintaining the siege. By the sixth hour, they were retreating from the city, and so on the seventh hour we rested.

 **Q: Rather poetic.  
**  
A: Indeed.

It was... strange, in the city. I mean, the air about the place, after we won. I imagine a lot of the Arabs were uncomfortable with the fact that there were tens of thousands of armed Jews right at the doorsteps of their most holy sites, but that point, those who were still concerned were too tired to really kick up a fuss. And there was a sense of... well, it was almost like electricity. I think the relief amongst the beleaguered people in the city, and the partisans, and the soldiers who'd reclaimed Mecca...

I have trouble describing it. There was little noise during that time. Many of us just mingled with each other, shaking hands or giving bows or exchanging a few words. A few people on both sides embraced or pat each other on the backs. There was some crying.

And then when the time came to perform the Asr Salah...

 _She opens up the box, and pulls some photos out. A few show her chatting with Arab soldiers, while one shows her standing in view of the Kaaba, watching as tens of thousands of people make their prayers.  
_  
To this day, I still can't believe I was able to actually _be there_ , to witness that without hassle. I think that was the first big sign for me, the sign that things were going to change.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wierzbowski II**

 _After a while, Wierzbowski insists on going on a walk through the city as our interview continues. The town of Fresh Start is one of many post war settlements, cut from a different cloth than that of its predecessors. There are no historic buildings, no outdated telephone poles above ground, and none of the other enduring relics of pre-war life.  
_  
 **Q: You said earlier that you mainly saw action during the Battle of Interstate 55. Did you see combat during Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Yeah, but not as much. Interstate 55, that was a fuckin' barrel-shootin'. But when Operation Earth rolled around, I was movin' as part as this broad front, a good five hundred miles long, and a good fifteen million men. There were probably ten thousand Thumpers bearin' down on those poor Lizards, which mean there was gonna be a lot more sharin' of landcruisers. Prolly also helped that I wasn't on the front lines, but in the second wave. Ended up drivin' past a lotta burnin' landcruisers.

Unlike a lotta other countries, we didn't need ta stop when the counterattack came, because we still had most of the Ow guns still workin', and we hadn't left their range when the Archangels went up.

 **Q: Where were you sent to liberate during that time?  
**  
A: Eh, I wasn't part of any of the big battles. Wasn't at Little Rock or Memphis. I was doin' the boring work. Clearin' out the countryside and suburbs, that kind of shit. Not much happened. I _do_ remember chasin' some landcruisers across a gulf course near Pine Bluff. The dumbasses got stuck in one of the ponds, and ended up surrenderin'.

Gotta say, it was _weird_ durin' that time.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: Well, I mean, up until the Lizards, we hadn't had a big war in our country for a hundred and fifty years. No, we hadn't had a war on our soil, _period_. I don't count some Japanese submarine guy shootin' up a dock, or that firebomb that set some trees on fire in Oregon. The idea of havin' ta fight a big stand-up war was alien, so I guess it was pretty fittin' that it was literal aliens doin' it.

Never thought I'd be drivin' through the neighborhoods of some Everytown, USA, shootin' at aliens. Felt like somethin' from one of those pre-war video games, y'know? That jingoistic shit where it's Russkies invadin', and that lone badass has ta liberate DC or somethin'?

 _He shakes his head.  
_  
Guess it ain't no shock that those games aren't made anymore.

 **Q: What else did you see during that time?**  
 _  
He sighs.  
_  
Eh, wasn't always funny shit like that. Further down we got, the worse the smell. Y'know, that sea-salt smell, when the surf has time ta settle in the ground? All that dead sea life, and those drowned animals, and... well, drowned _people_? Mighta been winter, but it still stunk ta high heaven. And the mud made drivin' hard a lotta the time.

And then the partisans.

 **Q: Partisans?  
**  
A: What, you think there wouldn't be guys fightin' against the short occupation? All 'em doomsday nuts or 'muh house is muh castle' asswipes who finally had somethin' they could legally shoot? The Lizards hadn't even landed before they got their guns out and started makin' plans for guerilla warfare.

Mostly old folks, since the fighting age men were either in the army or making equipment _for_ the army, but there were a few teens, too, actin' like it was Red Dawn. Thank Christ I didn't have ta hear 'em say somethin' like 'Wolverines!'. It was insufferable enough as is.

 **Q: Insufferable?  
**  
A: I mean, don't get me wrong. Many, nah, _most_ of 'em were just happy that we were comin' along and sending the Lizards runnin'. Others, however, felt the need ta get into a dick-measurin' contest. Guess they felt high and mighty, shootin' some Lizards on piss break and scamperin' for the bushes.

And a small number were just _nasty_. This wasn't just the normal shit I was talkin' about earlier, with the people who got hurt by the war and wanted ta hurt somethin' back. These were just sick fucks, those asswipes who were the reason we still had sundown counties. Mad dogs who finally got the leash taken off when Lima rolled in.

One thing I saw... hoo. A group of these guys, well... they had a habit of takin' Lizards alive. But they didn't send 'em to us so we could take 'em ta POW camps. They got out the garden shears, or the knives, and they decided ta, uh, make 'em sing soprano. And they had this big tree, and they'd... hang the bits from the branches. Everythin' else, they, well, they _cooked_. Guess the breakdown of transportation in occupied turf meant food was scarce, or maybe they were just feelin' like it. Prolly the latter.

I saw what musta been a hundred of those things, danglin' from the tree. And the fuckers came up ta us with fuckin' skulls as hats, whoopin' and hollerin', expectin' us ta be _proud_ of their little art project.

 _He rubs his face wearily._

What I hear, they got tried after the war. And even though some people will prolly still try and call me a traitor, but I hope they hanged. When ya take a rabid dog off the leash like that, you ain't gonna get the leash back on.

Really soured the mood I was feelin', when we started gettin' towards the close. Reminded me that even after the victory, things might never be over.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jeong II**

 _Jeong hands me a few photographs of Race design. In it, I can see a young boy, standing with two gaunt parents. It is clear that they have been recently bathed, and given new clothes.  
_  
 **Q: I take it this is you?  
**  
A: Yes. A Race male took the photo a week after the camp's liberation, on the behest of Fleetlord Atvar when the negotiations began. The intent was to demonstrate the benefits of Race rule, by highlighting the most brutal aspects of human societies. You can tell how shortly after the liberation it was; my parents still hadn't regained the weight.

 **Q: What was your life under Race occupation like?  
**  
A: A few towns were still in outright rebellion, and so I was actually moved here, as it was one of the quieter zones. Already, the Race was working to cement their power. There used to be a pair of massive statues, of Kim Jong Un and his father, and I was brought to watch as they toppled them. I also sometimes saw them arresting officers who had remained loyal to the regime.

As most of the infrastructure was intact, they were more able to try and make us into ideal citizens of the Empire. For me, that meant being sent to a makeshift school, where some tired Hallessi male taught us the language of the Race, and how to write in it. The children, like me, were constantly curious about everything Race. We had been told they were the devils themselves, and some were almost disappointed that they didn't eat babies. I remember some of my classmates asking if they could play with my teacher's ears.

 _He pulls out some calligraphy he made, in the Race's writing, along with what appears to be a practice book. In it, I can see the scraggly writing of a child._

It reminded me strongly of the 'reeducation' I had undergone in the camp. But at least I was fed, and I was not forced to work. My parents were not forced to mine, but instead got temporary jobs distributing clothing. Instead of a crowded, cold barracks, I was able to live with my parents again, in a small apartment.

 **Q: Did things change when Straha took power?  
**  
A: Yes. The crackdowns on the still-rebellious settlements became more harsh; they began to threaten the loyalists with orbital bombardment, and flattened the occasional rebel neighborhood to make their point clear. In addition, they became more focused on destroying the old regime. I saw state-authorized books and propaganda films being thrown to the fire in ceremonies that we were made to attend.

There was the also the matter of non-regime culture. Some Race officers tried sniffing out the smuggled works that were still amongst us, but that was largely unsuccessful, I believe. There were only two arrests during that time.

We were kept in the dark about the outside world, as well. For all we knew, the rest of the world could have fallen. Most of us didn't even know of Operation Earth until the invasion actually began.

 **Q: What happened to you during that time?  
**  
A: I remember hearing the distant rumbling in the distance, of artillery and missiles. That got me out of bed, and then I ran out into the street with my parents in time to see the aerial battle, as Chinese and Southern fighters engaged the killercraft. I was ushered inside shortly after that by my parents, and we hid in the basement as the planes shot at each other, and then the bombs began to rock the city.

We only came out a few hours later, when some Southern soldiers came down slowly, asking us if we were alright.

 **Q: What was that time like?  
**  
A: There were mixed reactions all around. My father was happy to see that the South had reached us. I saw others in the streets, asking the soldiers about family in the South. Much crying.

Personally, however, all I could think of was the sight of the bombed out streets and Race bodies. I recognized the tired Hallessi teacher amongst the prisoners, with a broken eyestalk. I wondered why someone who had never even raised his voice in class had received such a painful-seeming injury.

Many were joyous, but I was simply filled with a great uncertainty.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Guglielmi II**

 _Ret. Private Vito 'Googs' Guglielmi invites me to his deli shop in Palerno, Sicily, where he offers to make me a sandwich as I ask my questions. A tall, hawkish figure, with an incredibly pronounced nose, he is quite genial during our talk._

 **Q: Thank you for the sandwich, Signor Guglielmi. I would like to ask you about the invasion of Sicily during the war.**

A: Yeah, go ahead. Like, about the landings, or the operation?

 **Q: Both.**

A: Well, the landings were not a fun time. I was, uh, actually on the toilet when I heard the alarms. Didn't even have time to pull up my pants when I ran out and saw those meteorites falling from the sky and hitting our big guns. Seeing that suddenly made me need to use the latrine again, but I didn't get a chance to go before I had to hop in the American APCs we'd been loaned and start driving out.

 **Q: Where did you go?**

A: Uh, pretty much everywhere. We just kept on driving around the little mountain paths, only stopping for quick fuel breaks as we tried to get the radio working and find out what was going on. That was the plan our brass made. Something about using the terrain to your advantage or something. Yeah.

 _He slices some salami._

When we finally realized that they'd landed in Gertini and Comiso, we were already heading that way. Not because we had the foresight or anything, but because Mt. Etna was erupting, and we didn't want to be near that. Messed up the radio, and but it also meant there were no planes in the sky, which was nice.

 **Q: Did you see combat during that time?  
**  
A: Yeah. The rain was coming down hard, like, really hard. It was awful to drive in, but the aliens had it worse. We started moving around the mountain paths in the countryside in small groups, with maybe one or two tanks for thirty guys. Lot of us had army scooters and light armor to drive around in. We were kinda like the Portuguese, you know? We in Sicily were prepared for insurgency, not big stand up fights.

We were packs of feral dogs, troubling any small groups of aliens. We shot at envoys, blew up bridges that hadn't been taken out by telephone poles, snuck around and attacked bases after they sent deployments elsewhere... hard to tell if I actually killed anyone. The rain made it hard to tell.

Still, we were slowly losing. Sure, we were a pain in the stump for them, and they were having trouble thanks to Etna, but we were outnumbered six to one, I think, and we had _no_ air support. If we gathered up too much, that was basically putting on a target and screaming 'shoot me' at the sky, especially when the clouds started to clear up. We killed a good two hundred thousand aliens and destroyed a laser by week two, but they had two thirds of the island under control.

 **Q: What happened during Operation Earth?  
**  
A: Fighters started coming over from other places, and we finally got to fight on the open field, for one. Got us hit a bit, but then the Archangels went up, and suddenly the sky was ours. I saw Tunsian fighters, Italian fighters, even _Russian_ fighters.

 **Q: Russians?  
**  
A: Lots of Russians, actually, to help the mainland Italians fight the Lizards. I never thought I'd see Russian paratroopers coming down, and I especially never thought I'd be _happy_ to see them. They landed behind our lines and helped us launch raids on bases near Camiso, while the mainland came down to liberate Gertini. Wasn't there for the huge blowout in Syracuse, though. Would have loved to be in the celebrations there.

Instead, I was sent to go chase after the surviving Lizard forces that'd made a run for the mountains. I guess they thought they could play us at the same game. But it was as that stupid movie said.

Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _Putting the smoothie aside for a few minutes, Johnson leans forward, twiddling his thumbs.  
_  
 **Q: Did the Archangels encounter any trouble while flying to engage the fleet in lunar orbit?  
**  
A: Yes, but not of the intense kind. The fithp missiles, while powerful, would lose a lot of velocity breaking lunar escape velocity, which would have made them easy to take out with our point defense. Instead, it became a heating game of sorts.

 **Q: Heating game?  
**  
A: Lasers are largely unaffected by gravity; they could still hit us, though they were greatly attenuated at that distance. Instead of trying to destroy missiles in short and precise motions, the fithp lasers were instead focused on our hulls, trying to overheat us during the few hours it took to properly engage them.

Thankfully, our blast shields took the heat, and the _Uriel_ resolved the issue by rotating, though we still suffered some damage to our observation equipment. We were able to respond when they entered glaser range. By the time we inserted ourselves into lunar orbit, we took out another thirty Race starships, and three digit craft.

 **Q: What was combat in lunar orbit like?  
**  
A: It's hard to describe. Not only was there the adrenaline, the anxiety, but also a sense of surrealism. As a boy, I had always dreamed of visiting the Moon. And now, there I was, piloting a Space Shuttle as we engaged an alien fleet for the independence of the human race. Through the windows, I could see the lunar landscape roll by, just like in the old Apollo footage, and at the same time, I could see the flashes of nuclear initiations and ships being destroyed by lasers, miles and miles away.

It was after the initial orbital insertion that the Shuttles detached from the Michael. Before the program shutdown and the war, the Shuttles had Rocketdyne RS-25 engines, but the possibility of combat saw us retrofit them with a more short-lived, higher thrust engine. Not useful for STO, but more better suited for orbital maneuvering.

While the _Michael_ tore into the surviving digit ships and Race starships, we and the _Uriel_ were sent after the _Flishithy._ We were dealing with the possibility that the mothership would flee back to interplanetary space, where it would be nigh-impossible to pursue, and our mission was to slow it down long enough for the warships.

In essence, that consisted of spinning around, firing a few nuclear missiles, then spinning back around so that our heat shields took the brunt of their lasers.

Unfortunately, the point-defense on the mothership was still highly effective, and none of the missiles were making it through. _Michael_ was pursuing as well, but they were halfway around the Moon; they would not have made it in time.

 **Q: And that's why the Atlantis...  
**  
 _Johnson falls silent for a few moments. He grabs a photograph of him in a flight jumpsuit, posing with a dozen others.  
_  
A: Cole was the youngest of us, actually. Was barely out of college when he joined the program. He was a smart kid. Very smart. He was a funny man, and a nice man, but most importantly he was a _good_ man. He was the kind of astronaut you'd see becoming the first man on Mars.

I hear the blackbox actually survived the impact. Hard to believe, considering that _Atlantis_ must have been going at ten klicks a second when she smashed into the engine. I haven't brought myself to listen to it, even after all these years.

It should have been me who made that call, not him. But I didn't. And that's why he's now only a statue in DC, instead of setting up Bradbury Base.

And it's why humanity is free.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wallafess VII**

 _Wallafess and I return to the Race Free Zone, where we sit down in his shack. The sun is lower on the horizon, glittering over Salt Lake.  
_  
 **Q: What was your time on the Flishithy like, after Footfall?  
**  
A: Lousy. A lot of the people turned icy towards me, after what happened. Chris and his girlfriend were the only onse who bothered to talk with me, and even that was less often, since the others glared daggers at them when they did. Might've been because of our friendship, or maybe some thought he was being a Quisling when they made him give the ultimatum.

In retrospect, it's a miracle someone didn't try to drown me in the shit pond when they had the chance.

Escape was pretty much impossible, then. More guards, who also knew our old tricks, and we weren't exactly in the spirit of trying new ones. Chris was worried sick about the landings in America. He didn't get news about Interstate 55, or about Operation Earth, so for all he knew, America was down the hole.

Then, one day, there was a huge commotion. Fithp moving through the halls, troopmales scrambling for something, all of that. Had no idea what it was, until I heard something about huge Tosevite spaceships coming for us.

A few minutes after the commotion started, Tashayamp and her mate came in, to tell us that the Herdmaster wanted one of us with him, to act as a reference point for something. Chris's girlfriend went. Something about making sure the others didn't hate him more, I guess.

Of course, that wasn't what really stuck with me. What _really_ stuck with me, was how they just left the doors open when they floated back towards the bridge.

 **Q: What do you mean?  
**  
A: You heard me. They looked at each other, looked at us, then didn't lock the door as they went out. It was a very _knowing_ gesture. Still took me a few moments to realize it wasn't an accident. That... that was my first introduction to the Schism that was going on. I guess there were some dissidents who, while they weren't going to take direct action against the madman in power, weren't going to stop us, either.

I took the opportunity almost immediately. I hopped out, along with everyone else. There was no plan that time. Some of us just fled down the hallways, while Chris and I decided to go do our bridge routine again.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: In due honesty? I didn't expect to survive. I just wanted to die somewhere that wasn't that damn garden. If I also pissed off the Fleetlord in the process? Well, I'd be content.

And considering that no one stopped us, I'm sure they agreed. Or they were just in battle positions. We probably should have been in battle positions, especially when there was that huge _thwack_ and lurch when the Shuttle hit us. Dislocated a finger against the bulkhead when that happened.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi VII**

 _It is a quiet night as we walk the streets. A few people stare at Joshi, but say nothing. She herself is silent for a while, before I finally continue the interview.  
_  
 **Q: What happened when you were ordered to the bridge?  
**  
A: I hadn't even made it when there was a great, terrible sound. I remember slamming into Tashayamp from the sudden shift in impact. I still had no idea what was going on. I knew that we were under attack, but I didn't know by whom, or even _how_. The Breakers told me nothing as I was brought along.

I came to the bridge to see Straha himself sitting in the acceleration webbing, hissing orders left and right at gathered Race officers and fi'. I saw looks of panic in everyone's eyes. And every few seconds, there was another terrible sound, as though someone was plucking the world's largest guitar string. In retrospect, those were most likely the missiles hitting the gash in the ship, caused by Atlantis's sacrifice.

 **Q: Did the Fleetlord say anything to you when you arrived?  
**  
A: Yes. He ordered me to stand by him as he argued with the old Advisor. I knew enough of their languages to actually understand what they were saying, and that was how I learned of what was going on. The Advisor was terrified. He was speaking of how the human ships used terrible lasers and nuclear weapons, weapons they had never actually developed. He described the effects the gamma rays were having on his combat crews, in the digit-ships or elsewhere.

Straha was ordering him to have the digit-ships cover the _Flishithy's_ escape, and seemed to disregard the threat posed by the ships, even as the sounds got worse and worse. I still remember the _pock pock pock_ sounds of the railguns, scoring holes in the ship's flank.

He asked me if the human ships were willing to ram me, just as the Shuttle had. I replied that I didn't know. He pressed me on it, and I admitted it was a possibility. He asked the Advisor if the Flishithy's weapons could take down the human ships, and was told that the human ships had fought their way through countless ships without damage. Even then, the parasite craft were doing their own attacks, destroying laser turrets at the cost of themselves.

At the same time, I heard news of the fighting on the ground, of how the Race occupied territory was under attack from all sides. In that moment, I felt something I'd thought I'd lost long ago. I felt _hope_. I realized we could _win_.

After a heated argument with the Advisor, Straha decided to open up communications with the ships, and had me speak into it, even though my English was still not very good.

 **Q: What did he say?  
**  
A: He told me to tell the ships that if they continued with their present course and failed, he would go to the asteroid belt and return with a moon. He vowed that he would rescind his previous mercy, and immediately move to scour the planet, whether it be by the remaining explosive metal bombs, or the orbital bombardment.

The reply from the ships was 'if'.

 **Q: What happened after that?  
**  
A: He was silent for a few moments. I remember exchanging a nervous glance with the Advisor.

Then I heard a banging against the door, and Straha _exploded_.

 **Q: Exploded?  
**  
A: He began to spit invectives at me, at the Advisor, at everyone. He hissed something about bringing Atvar to home in a cage, about leaving the traitors to human mercies while he came back with a rock big enough to destroy us all, about how we were supposed to be on horseback, not firing lasers... he vowed that he was going to order a full nuclear strike, or do anything and everything to ensure we were less than a memory.

He was screaming at phantom armies at that point. Then he told me to tell the rant to the ships, or he'd have my friends on the ship shot.

And that did it. After being kidnapped, orphaned, witnessing my home be atomized, and watching cities be washed away, I had finally had it. I didn't care if they shot me, or if I did nothing. I wanted _out_ of this madness.

I didn't even realize I had my hands around his throat until I felt him digging his claws into my wrists. I think I was screaming during that time. I do certainly remember slamming his tiny little body back into the webbing, then stomping on his chest hard enough that he ended up curling into a ball. I hit him a few more times after that, which earned me a broken knuckle, and then the Advisor pulled me away.

I thought 'this was it'. I was ready for one of them to pulp me with their guns, or simply break my neck with their trunks. But they didn't.

 **Q: What happened?  
**  
A: The fithp and the officers on the bridge all stared at me. Then, the Advisor said something I will never forget.

"What are your orders, herdmaster?"

I'm surprised I was still thinking straight at the moment, when I ordered them to stand down, and told the ships about the surrender.

Can you imagine how I felt, then? Just... just a sudden rush of so many emotions, but strongest of all... was relief. I had suffered immensely, and so had the world. The future was still uncertain.

 _She smiles.  
_  
But the war was over.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Sixteen: Victory_**


	17. Chapter 17

**Front Page of Reddit: February 9th, 2021**

(1001k) **Queen - We Are The Champions** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/videos one hour ago - 29199 comments  
(2999k) **THE WAR IS OVER - US AND OTHER SOURCES CONFIRM SURRENDER** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/worldnews two hours ago - 4928491 comments  
(867k) **Reports of Race troops standing down across the planet have been confirmed by government sources.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/invasionnews two hours ago - 842941 comments  
(888k) **This is Beijing right now, only half an hour after the surrender came through.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/pics one hour ago - 29441 comments  
(779k) **Welp, time to whip these out.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/dankmemes one hour ago - 49194 comments  
(889k) **Fireworks over DC, Paris, and London. This is history.**.  
Posted to /r/pics one hour ago - 39128 comments  
(694k) **WORLD WAR CHAMPIONS THREE TIMES RUNNING! USA! USA! USA!** [ ]  
Posted to /r/MURICA one hour ago - 1776 comments  
(1734k) **US confirms launch of two nuclear pulse battleships.** [cnn]  
Posted to /r/worldnews nine hours ago - 45591 comments  
(444k) **Hey guys, I found this huge concrete hole in the ground while doing a supply run in Kazakhstan. What is it?** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/pics six hours ago - 2294 comments  
(814k) **Tehran, Islamabad, and Mecca confirmed liberated.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/invasion three hours ago - 92494 comments  
(724k) **This is the only appropriate reaction to the news.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/invasionmemes one hour ago - 41073 comments  
(665k) **US victory in big battle at Chattanooga. More in comments.** [nytimes]  
Posted to /r/invasionUSA four hours ago - 8017 comments  
(764k) **Israeli and Arab soldiers celebrating the war's end in Mecca. There's always hope for the future.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/pics two hours ago - 93429 comments  
(662k) **Seeing the news about Operation Earth like** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/adviceanimals one hour ago - 29346 comments  
(888k) **Video of the Chongqing and Mumbai launch.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/videos six hours ago - 83689 comments  
(771k) **When aliens invade your country, but you have more guns than people.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/dankmemes three hours ago - 34514 comments  
(684k) **Even if we pull apart after this, I hope we don't forget how we all came together this day. It may not last, but today we are one. No countries. Just us.** [imgur]  
Posted to /r/invasion one hour ago - 49284 comments  
(559k) **ONE UPVOTE = YEARS WE STAY FREE** [self]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD one hour ago - 89429 comments  
(772k) **Breathtaking footage of the USS Constitution in action. o7** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/videos four hours ago - 49258 comments  
(437k) **Humanity: 2. Aliens: 0. Better luck next time.** [self]  
Posted to /r/invasion one hour ago - 45793 comments  
(642k) **Archangel Michael. Upvote this so people see this when they look up Archangel Michael.** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/archangel one hour ago - 4855 comments  
(553k) **Sake reserves have been depleted in Tokyo, officials say.** [bbc]  
Posted to /r/worldnews one hour ago - 4944 comments  
(837k) **News anchor freaks the fuck out when he hears that the war is over.** [youtube]  
Posted to /r/invasion two hours ago - 29281 comments  
(555k) **THEY BROKE** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD one hour ago - 4914 comments  
(550k) **BEFORE WE DID** [ .it]  
Posted to /r/EWBBWD one hour ago - 3298 comments

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Igoshin IV**

 _The game of weiqi ends in Igoshin's favor. As we pack up the board, I continue with my questioning.  
_  
 **Q: Where were you when the surrender was announced?  
**  
A: Marseilles. We'd just taken back the city from the Lizards when we got the radio reports about the victory. There I was, standing in a bombed out street in the pouring rain, and all of the sudden everyone was just _screaming._ None of that shocked silence shit like in other places. All that adrenaline, all of that rush... we started making a huge ruckus in a short time. It's not easy to explain how we all felt in that moment. Relief, for sure, like I never experienced, but also a whole bunch of other emotions.

 **Q: What kind of celebrations were there?  
**  
 _Igoshin grins.  
_  
We gathered in the streets and in the squares, and we _partied_. We had liberated French citizens pulling out whatever wine and champagne they had, breaking out the radios and the snacks and some of the harder shit. There were anthems blaring, people dancing as their friends sang horribly, and places that were practically mosh pits. It was a lot like Chengdu, but bigger.

There was this sense of unity, in a way. All of us, Russians and French and Poles and Germans and all these other peoples, together as they celebrated the biggest victory in history. It was one of those moments where my brain took a step back and really thought about _everyone_ as a whole, like, in the grand scheme of the species and all that shit. We did stupid things like German vs Russian wrestling matches, and making it a thing to try and embrace a person from each nation.

We also did a lot more than _embracing_. Suffice to say, for once I was very glad that we all made co-ed armies for the war. There's probably a few Mikhailovitches unaware, sprinkled across the continent. Once again, the end of a world war ensured that the next generation of Germans and Poles were half-Russian, but way more fun.

 **Q: I take it Iosef did what he did in other places?  
**  
 _Igoshin wipes his eyes.  
_  
A: Iosef, that beautiful, beautiful man. He might've been the first to get the notches in his belt. I saw him ducking out with old ladies throughout the night, somehow charming them like fucking Rasputin. Seriously. He would walk up to one, say a few words, smile, and that was that.

We came across him slumped against the wall towards the end, absentmindedly patting his chest. I guess his heart had lasted him through Mongolia and China, but his journey had come to an end. He wasn't worried, though. Between the exhilaration of the victory and everything else, he said, he was content. He even told us not to bother getting a doctor, since he felt it'd be all downhill from there. He had us take some letters from him, and told us is to give them to their recipients.

When he finally went, and took his mystic arts with him, he had the biggest smile on his face. I'm sure his sugar-mommy in Mongolia felt a disturbance in the Force. At least she got a letter.

 _He sighs._

The end of the party was a lot like a hangover, in addition to an actual hangover. We had our fun, celebrating the victory, but we were gonna wake up to the long aftermath of the war. And there were plenty of other letters to give, all around the world.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Papadiamontopoulos I**

 _It is a calm day along the Aegean Sea as I visit the small home nestled into the hills of Santorini. My interviewee greets me at the entrance of his home, and we hold our talk on his porch. A short, hairy man, Constantinos Papadiamantopoulos may not quite be what people envision when they think of a defense attorney._

 **Q: Kaló apógevma, Kyrie Papadiamantopoulos.  
**  
A: And kaló apógevma to you as well. I already imagine why you wanted to interview me, considering my most famous legal work.

 **Q: Yes. How did you become involved with the New York Trials?  
**  
A: The very first inklings of the concept came about back when I was still part of the ICC. There were many think tanks, national and international, which were formed during the six years leading up to the war. All sorts of scenarios were discussed, and even the most flimsy ones were given due consideration and planning, in case it was needed. One of those concepts was the idea of post-war trials, should humanity win the war and maintain the social structure to have trials.

I was part of that think tank. There were experts from all around the world, conferring with each other and the governments of their nations on what courses of action would be taken. With some reluctance on the part of the Americans and Chinese, it was agreed that the trials, if they were ever actually to occur, would be held by an international tribunal, one that would be formed by all surviving nations.

When the surrender in lunar orbit occurred, I'm sure there was shock all along the world as they realized they were to honor those agreements, and hold a tribunal. Not necessarily because they didn't want the tribunals, though I am sure many did not want to bother with paperwork and simply shoot the ones they didn't like, but because it highlighted what was to come after the war.

 **Q: What do you mean by that?  
**  
A: What I mean is that we were facing a similar situation to the aftermath of the previous world war. To put it simply, the old world was _no more_. The war had irrevocably changed every single aspect of global civilization. There were the more obvious parts- the nations that had been conquered, the cities that had been destroyed, but there was more than that. There was the disruption of global trade, and what was essentially the annihilation of neocolonialism. There was the ramifications on the world of crime as well to consider, and the shifting of power, both domestic and foreign.

This was not simply a series of trials for the invaders, but also a convention that would determine the foundation that the new world would be built upon.

 **Q: Like the Nuremberg Trials?  
**  
A: I would disagree. The Nuremberg Trials were decided solely by the most powerful nations that had won the war. Even if the crimes committed by Germany were horrific, which you cannot deny, the trials stunk of victor's justice. After all, the Soviet Union was not punished, despite being guilty of aggression against Poland, and neither were the French punished for doing some of the same brutalities to prisoners as the Nazis did. The laws and the punishments were solely determined by the victors, and solely focused on the losers.

In addition, while the Nuremberg trials contended with a conquered enemy, the Race was not conquered. The military forces had surrendered, yes, but we were not imposing anything on the worlds of the Race, as it would have been impossible. There were no representatives of the Race's government present, and no way to effectively communicate with the Empire, due to the fact that it would take twenty years to get a reply back.

 _He chuckles.  
_  
This made for many legal headaches, even before I arrived in New York.

 **Q: Why New York?  
**  
A: Nairobi was still tentatively under the control of the Race, as there was no one to really take the reins, so to say. The other cities had either been damaged during the fighting, or transportation to and from them would have been quite difficult. New York was the best choice. It had been untouched during the war, had working airports, and was home to one of the UN headquarters.

 **Q: What was the atmosphere during that time?  
**  
A: Paradoxically subdued and chaotic at the same time. There were massive protests in the streets, so thick that my cab took hours to get from the airport to the building, and the global situation was essentially in limbo. At the same time, however, the higher powers were treading carefully, unsure of what was to happen next. There were few 'demands' made during that time as the trials were set up, but requests. No nations tried to make a fuss of things as we gathered to decide what was to happen next.

I remember watching the representatives and indicted come in. There were representatives from each free nation on Earth, though many governments in exile had been denied a seat, due to their own extensive human rights abuses. Hypocritical, I say. There was also Fleetlord Atvar, who was technically in charge of the Race forces again, but there was definitely a sharp division that we later legally recognized. There were also the fithp, who, for the sake of simplifying legal matters, were represented by their new herdmistress.

That was definitely a point of contention, even before the trials. Mamta Joshi had refused to surrender the fithp to any one nation, even her own, though she had ordered the fithp to stand down against the Americans. Her argument was that it was to prevent an abuse of the fithp, and to prevent one nation from having a vast advantage over the others. I suppose the fact that the Americans, Russians, and Chinese were all vying for that power was what allowed her to stay herdmistress, ironically enough. They all wanted the technology, but they weren't willing to let the others have it, so they let her be for the time being.

Imagine that. I'm sure you've seen the pictures. The American president was at the special assembly, as were the presidents and prime ministers of many other nations. There was a Fleetlord who had led a global invasion before his deposal, and his monstrous successor who had killed millions, so heavily bound at all times that it was like something from a movie. And amongst all of these powerful men and women, there was this scrawny and haggard Indian girl, not even old enough to drink in her own nation, who was worthy of a seat at the table as the new order was decided.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Traoré III**

 _Digging under his desk for a few moments, Traoré pulls out a massive stack of handwritten notes, written in shorthand and Shavian script. He flips through them, eyes darting, then sets it down on his desk.  
_  
 **Q: Are those the transcripts during the New York Trials?  
**  
A: Yes. I had received training in stenography while studying to be a linguist, and I decided to put it to good use during the trials. Many of the other stenographers simply recorded the translations of what the various Race males said, but I also jotted down the original saying, to look for anything that may have been immediately overlooked. Language is a beautiful, nuanced thing, and the language of the Race is no exception. Its polysynthetic grammar only made it more nuanced.

 **Q: Why did you agree to translate for Fleetlord Atvar during the trials?  
**  
A: Why? It is a difficult thing to put to words. He may have invaded my nation, but he was respectful during my time aboard the _Hetto_ as a translator. His convictions, while with a strong imperialist and colonialist undertone, were also of a humanitarian bent, and the strength of those convictions inspired in me a kind of respect. It only grew stronger when I saw how his successor acted.

And so, I volunteered to translate for him. I worked with a woman from Australia during this time. Maggie, I believe. Between us and our assistants, we had the roles of translator, stenographer, cultural attaché, and attorney. I often corroborated with the chief psychologist, Ttomalss, as well as the Fleetlord himself as he and the loyalists under his command established themselves in the court. Many of the high-ranking officers also had their own defense attorneys, while the troopmales were often represented en masse.

The prosecution during that time was a Malaysian attorney who worked in the ICC, a short man with broad cheeks. It is funny that a man who had chosen an altruistic career could manage to be so rude. I suppose I cannot blame him. Lawyers are supposed to be professional, but I'm sure that no such group had been tested in such a manner as the lawyers involved in these trials. Nearly everyone knew someone, or knew someone that knew someone, that had been affected by the war. Death, injuries, psychological scarring. Such things can push one's professionalism to the extreme.

 **Q: Did it push yours?  
**  
A: I wouldn't say so. I did not have to confront or defend; I merely translated and transcribed. But I do remember being frustrated with the comments coming from both sides. I imagine everyone was frustrated as well. The Fleetlord was facing war crime charges, and the prosecution certainly felt he deserved them.

 **Q: What kind of charges?  
**  
 _Traoré slips on his glasses, and looks through the transcriptions.  
_  
A: Outrages upon personal dignity, which was the weakest one, along with the passing of sentences without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, deportations of occupied peoples, and destruction of non-military targets. They used the Geneva Conventions of 1949 for the groundwork of the accusations, even though the Race had not signed the treaties.

The outrages were the weakest one, and came from the testimony of some rich individuals who had been forced to bunk with the poor. It was so audacious that it was thrown out immediately, if I recall. The passing of sentences was more concrete. The Fleetlord had deemed the Gurkhas too dangerous to take prisoner during his time in charge of the Fleet, after all.

The Fleetlord responded by showing photos his soldiers had taken, of what the Gurkhas had done to his troops. The argument was put on hold after that, and instead the other accusations were examined. The claims of deportations came from what had been done in certain areas, where the civilians had been moved behind Race lines as they took the city. The prosecutor argued that the Race was attempting to use human shields. The Fleetlord retorted that it was to reduce civilian casualties, and to hinder partisan operations.

This was when things became interesting, as I was given the privilege to read the rules of war as dictated by the Race. According to the Imperial decrees, the deportation of future subjects was standard doctrine. Of course, standard doctrine also assumed that the 'future subjects' would be using spears and other muscle powered weapons, not missiles and nuclear weaponry.

In fact, I'd say the nuclear weaponry was the biggest point leveled at the Fleetlord. After all, he'd ordered the destruction of both Pyongyang and part of Multan with explosive metal bombs. The prosecution played the scant footage they had of the incidents as well.

 **Q: What did the defense say?  
**  
A: Their reply was that the destruction were directed at targets of military importance. Multan was a major industrial city with two bases, and Pyongyang was the military center of North Korea. It was argued that the destruction of these targets actually reduced overall casualties, by forcing a swifter and less bloody surrender. I believe the Americans still used something similar to justify what was done in Japan.

It was a curious sight, to see the initial leader of Earth's invasion have to argue with a dumpy lawyer. My hand ached from how quickly I had to write the quick dialogue between them, with the lawyer accusing Atvar of senseless slaughter, while the Fleetlord insisted it was a sensible military action in the face of, to him, near-insurmountable odds. His own people's rules of war were read aloud by me, particularly regarding the usage of explosive metal bombs, which turned out to be largely at the discretion of the Fleetlord.

The defense also pulled up evidence of the Race actually adhering to many of the conventions, such as how it treated prisoners and civilians in occupied nations. In addition, Atvar also argued that the use of nuclear weaponry was a retaliatory measure against North Korea, and was to discourage the use of more bombs. If he had not responded, the Fleetlord claimed, more bombs would have been used, and the environment would have been damaged even further.

 **Q: These arguments seem rather heated. How was Atvar ultimately not convicted?  
**  
A: The adherence to the Geneva Conventions in many ways, with the fact that he had aided us considerably in the war, outweighed his actions against us. There were legal restrictions imposed, such as being unable to command military forces in the signatory nations, but he didn't see a cell.

 _He folds his glasses, and puts them away._

I am not a keen political mind. My passion is language, and the cultures they come from. However, I feel that you do not need to be a politically-inclined person to know that it was important that Atvar stay out of prison or the noose. The surviving Race on Earth were loyal to him, and whether or not the world cared to admit, they needed the Race to help rebuild the world. The Fleetlord had already proven reasonable and cooperative, and it was better to deal with him than any replacement.

I am sure, however, that if the circumstances of the surrender were different, then we would speak of him in the past tense.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Odaka I**

 _By Japanese standards, Odaka Akane is rather short and plump, with grey shoulder-length hair she keeps curled. I meet her in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, where she often takes photos, and we sit down on a nearby bench as we talk.  
_  
 **Q: Good afternoon, Odaka-san.  
**  
A: Odaka will do. I'm not one of those old farts who still bothers with honorifics. _She chuckles and sways her shoulders._ I'm hip, I'm cool.

 **Q: Very well. Is it true that you were a war-time photographer?  
**  
A: Yes. I was attached to the JSSDF in Kankoku, I mean, Korea. I only snapped a few photos. Explosions over the hills. Soldiers charging across the DMZ. Hugging in the streets when the surrender came through. Those sort of things. I wasn't the best, but I was good enough to be approached for the job of looking through the wartime photos and archiving them.

 **Q: Were you the only one?  
**  
A: No, no! _Laughs._ Could you imagine? I could have worked until I decided to do the old salaryman train stunt, and I would have not made any major headway. Do you know how many photographs were taken during the war?

 **Q: Er, a few hundred thousand?  
**  
A: A few hundred _billion_ is more like it. Back in pre-war internet culture, people took pictures for the _stupidest_ shit, and that resulted in nearly two billion a day at its height. The number dipped due to some places losing internet or power, but there were still a crapload. Now, only a fraction of those were important to us, and only a fraction of that fraction was _available_ to us, but that was still more photos than taken of all previous wars combined.

And this time, it wasn't just human photographers, either. The Race and Fithp took millions of their own photos during the war, and they were lent to us by the Fleetlord and new Herdmistress. I worked with thousands of other photographers and archivists, some of whom were not human, and we were aided by some computers that were able to help determine if the pictures were just of rocks instead of Lizards or guns. That cut down the work considerably, but I still had a lot of photos to go through.

 **Q: What was the purpose of the project?  
**  
A: What do you mean, what was the purpose? There was plenty of purpose. It wasn't just for the sake of evidence for the Trials. Those photos helped shape a picture of the world during the war, of the atrocities and the battles and everything between. Photos can move the world, and they only grow more powerful in times like those, when everything we know seems to be in freefall.

And above all, it was important that we ensure that the events of this war didn't go into the dustbin of history, that crimes didn't get covered up, and mistakes were not forgotten. Because if we forget our mistakes, we'll be repeating them soon enough.

 **Q: What kind of photos did you see during this project?  
**  
A: All sorts. I saw photos of epic battles, and of soldiers posing in front of a hill or burning trash can. I saw images of rubble-strewn streets, bodies, civilian life during the war...

I must say that the photos taken by the Race were the most memorable, however.

 **Q: How do you mean?  
**  
A: Apparently, the higher-ups in the Conquest Fleet ordered their photographers to take as many photos of humans subpar conditions as possible. Fodder to bombard the world leaders with when the first negotiations began, to try and give themselves a platform to posture from.

I ended up seeing terrible, _terrible_ , things. They were the kind of scenes that many photographers could only dream of capturing, whether because they were too dangerous or too difficult to find. But the Lizards had none of those restrictions, since they were already at war with everyone. It was like someone pulling back a tarp and exposing all the cockroaches to the light.

I was given a look in the genocide in Darfur that was unrivaled in depth, and unbridled by government protests, as there was no government left to try and cover it up. The same went for the look inside the North Korean concentration camps, when we learned that the escapees were not exaggerating in their brutal accounts. Abuse of women in parts of the Middle East, starvation in India, the rampant crime in many African nations...

 _She shudders.  
_  
And many of these images were not two-dimensional. I didn't just see mutilated children or liberated sex slaves on glossy paper. I saw them as holograms, offering a three-dimensional look into the suffering we inflicted on each other. I knew the world needed to see that. Everyone else agreed, too. That's why we finagled the paperwork so that the complete photos would be released to the public on the same day as they were released to the court.

 **Q: Wouldn't releasing those photos weaken some accusations during the trial?  
**  
A: Like their minds weren't already set with the big fish. I am a photographer, it is my job to use my camera to tell the truth. It's what I _do_. To let those images be discarded just because they would make hanging some aliens harder to justify? That was unimportant.

My own nation did terrible things, you know. Back in the Second World War, with what we did to other Pacific nations. The Rape of Nanjing. Unit 731. The slaughter of civilians in the Philippines. Photos and documents were also made of those things, but were they brought to the forefront against my own nation, like with the Germans? No, because it would have been _too inconvenient._ It would have upset my people and made the Occupation harder, and so the other nations just hanged some war criminals and swept it under the rug, only discussing it in their own schools. I learned almost nothing of Nanjing when I grew up.

And what did that accomplish? It allowed nationalism to infest my nation like a cancer, a cancer that was fed by ignorance, a cancer that endured for decades and almost plunged us into obscurity during the post-war world.

Truth is anathema to tyranny, to oppression, and to hatred. And if we wanted the new world after the war to be a better one, we needed to leave such things behind. So yes, I have no regrets in presenting the truth, free of any agenda, to the world.

 _She spreads her arms wide._

If you want my reasoning, look around you.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Harpanet VI**

 _As our short snack break comes to an end, I decide to change the topic of my interview with Harpanet.  
_  
 **Q: Why did you go to New York during the Trials?  
**  
A: As I was a part of the American herd, I was ordered to the city in order to act as an advisor to my new Herdmaster during the trials, as well as the treaties and agreements that came after. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the city. I had never seen a large city before, and I was in awe of the towering buildings my new herd had built. I required guards at all times, but I was still able to visit many places when I was not working. The Metropolitan Museum, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building...

I digress. You do not wish to know of my sight-seeing, but of my duties during that time.

 **Q: Well, yes. Were you present for the trial of Atvar and the loyalist officers?  
**  
A: No. I stayed in the pool room of a hotel, which had been made into a comfortable mud pit. I was only brought in after the various herds had agreed to recognize Atvar and his herd as separate from that of Straha and his rogue herd. After that decree was made, the time had come for the trials of members from my old herd. My Herdmaster felt that my insight would be valuable in that regard.

 **Q: Who was put on trial?  
**  
A: Advisor Pastempeh-keph, as well as the Attackmaster. It was clear that we were a source of many legal issues during that time. Firstly, there was the nature of the Traveler Herd, as it was. As the Herdmistress was from India, would they be considered part of India, and tried according to the laws and treaties recognized by India? Or were they part of my herd, as they had surrendered to the American ships?

I could see the tension in the expressions of my old herd. It seemed that they, too, were pondering that same thought. The Herdmistress argued against either statements. Though she was a citizen of India, she was also now the legally-recognized Herdmistress of the Traveler Fithp.

The debate was put on hold. I am unaware of the exact legal measures made during that time, only that I am sure it required the most skilled on the planet to make it happen.

 **Q: What was the trial like?  
**  
A: Pastempeh-keph and the Attackmaster were accused of deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure that was not vital to the military effort. That was most strong an accusation with the Chinese herd. Of all herds, they had suffered the most. Three of their largest cities had been invaded. One had been destroyed in nuclear flame, and millions of people perished in the deluge brought by the destruction of the dam.

During this time, I was asked many questions, both in private and while at the stand. I was asked about how the Traveler Fithp waged war, and of the history of our species. Fistarteh-thuktun, too, was there. He answered the most questions, as he knew the most of our history.

You must understand. At the time, the Race was already well-known. Their intentions were known, as was much of its history. Millions of people could speak its language, if not fluently. But the Traveler Fithp had come silently, and had made no attempts at negotiation. To the world at large, they were a frightening enigma. _Truly_ alien. And so, as I spoke, and as the Loremaster spoke, the world was offered its first real look into the Traveler Fithp.

Again, a debate was flared around us?

 **Q: What sort of debate?  
**  
A: The Race fithp is much like that of Winterhome fithp when compared to the Traveler Herd. They developed their own technology. Slower, but on their own nevertheless. They interact amongst each other much the same, even towards the larger scale of things, with only mating and the raising of calves being different. But the Traveler Herd did not develop its own technology, and interacted differently. The sense of community is stronger, even if they are still independent thinkers.

A political cartoonist during that time likened the debate to whether or not a child murderer should be sent to a prison for adults. Some, such as the Herdmistress, argued that the Traveler Herd was too undeveloped to have an understanding of war crimes like that of the other herds. We were, as some said, like a child who had found his father's gun, and tried to settle schoolyard debates with it.

That did not trouble the Chinese as much. It was argued that even undeveloped herds should be held accountable for slaughter. They continued to push, and a compromise was made. The Attackmaster was put to death, and the Advisor was sentenced to twenty years servitude for the Chinese herd, along with his family. They were made Chinese citizens, and given work with repair operations in Nanjing.

But the rest of the Traveler Fithp were given blanket immunity. Their fate was not to be decided by criminal courts, but by a diplomatic conference after the Trials.

 _He stuffs a whole watermelon in his mouth.  
_  
The Advisor didn't reach the tenth year. I am still convinced it was not simply age and stress that ended his life, but I doubt I will ever truly know. I am only glad his mate and son are soon to be returned. I like to take it as a sign, that the seeds of atonement and peace are blossoming at last.

But such a garden to grow them in, no?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Aliens In Manhattan, Chapter Four: The Serpent. Published August 9th, 2021**

 _A caged animal. That is my impression of the Fleetlord, as he is brought into the courtroom. For safety's sake, he has been bound in a tailor-made straightjacket, one designed to hold the oddly flexible hands of the Race. It is, I am told, due to the fact that handcuffs and zip ties are not as useful when the subject has claws to pick or cut at the bindings. Yet, I am also told it is to ensure the casts stay in place. Mamta Joshi, the woman who ended the war, had shattered half of his lattice-like ribs, and had nearly fractured his vertebrae with her grip._

 _It is strange, seeing him like this. For a short but terrifying moment, the human race lived in terror of this creature's shadow. More than any one individual, he is the single greatest enemy to all mankind. More than Hitler, or all human tyrants before and after, for even they never had the power to destroy all of humanity. And yet, this monster is no taller than a child, so injured that he cannot stand on his own._

 _The vitriol in the room is oppressive with its intensity. I can see it in the eyes of the gathered representatives, the attorneys, the judges, and even the other Race males in the room. It can even be felt from the cameras, broadcasting this trial to what must be hundreds of millions of waiting eyes. This is the most hatred focused upon a single individual, in a single moment, in all of history._

 _The prosecution starts. The list of crimes is long, and full of terms that snag at your memory. Mass murder. Dehumanization. Use of weapons of mass destruction. Genocide. The Fleetlord does not speak during this time. His eye turrets roam across the room, lingering on a few select individuals. Atvar. Joshi. The American President._

 _"Fleetlord Straha, how do you plead?"_

 _When the wretch finally speaks, it is in a hoarse wheeze, almost like the squeaking of a broken toy. Even across barriers of culture and even species, the contempt in his shaking voice is clear. It is the same contempt that drove him to refuse counsel._

 _"Kpisholak." Not guilty, the translator provides._

 _The trial proceeds. I watch witnesses from all over the world and beyond come forward, one at a time, and say their piece. Americans who had been forced into the mountains give halting accounts of the terror of Footfall. A woman from Algiers speaks of how her entire family had drowned in the waves. The Fleetlord remains passive, eye turrets focused elsewhere._

 _It is when a Rabotev male who had witnessed the mutiny steps to the stand that the Fleetlord emotes. In a total reversal of mood, the creature hisses and snaps at his former subordinate, spitting out invectives that the translator strains to make clear. 'Traitor'. 'Forsaken'. 'Tsiongi pellets'. The Fleetlord calls the Rabotev a human sympathizer who will be the death of the Race._

 _At this, Atvar spits his own invectives at the Fleetlord, many of which sound the same, and the judges demand order in the court. The Rabotev is allowed to finish his testimony, and is escorted out._

 _This continues for several days. Witness after witness after witness is brought forward, the Race archives combed for evidence, and the extent of the Fleetlord's crimes weigh upon the room. Detailed accounts of his plans for Earth and humanity are made public. Casualty lists are produced. Photos of destroyed monuments are passed around. The Fleetlord seems uncaring to all of it._

 _There are a few more outbursts. The two most notable ones come at separate times, when Atvar and Joshi each take their turn. It is a most interesting relationship, between Atvar and Straha. Each one seems convinced that the other is wrong, that the other is an utter lunatic. These are the more coherent statements made by Straha during this time, as he and Atvar adamantly paint each other as war criminals, and traitors to the Race._

 _Joshi, however, simply drives the Fleetlord in a frothing rage. For her part, she is calm as she recollects the mutiny, her witnessing of Footfall, and of the tense moment aboard the bridge of the Message Bearer._

 _The other outbursts are not directed against anyone in particularly. The Fleetlord gives nonsensical speeches on the destiny of the Race, and on the destructive nature of the species before him. He rants and sneers at our history, and our cultures. His closing statements, however, are the most intelligible. His speech is a long one, running for nearly an hour as he speaks of humanity's seeming insanity, of its own cruelty, and how we must be all destroyed before we can taint the stars._

 _The sentencing may be the quickest in all of history. The tribunes seem to return as quickly as they have gone, and they offer no surprise. The verdict is guilt, and the punishment is death. No reaction seems to come from the Fleetlord, as he is escorted out._

 _There is no cheering in the courtroom, even now. I am sure many feel this is simply one body to add to a pile of millions. But I can almost hear the cheering, the weeping, the sighs of relief, as what may be the most trying chapter in human history is brought to a close._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **New York Times Article - February 21st, 2021**

 ** _STRAHA DEAD  
Race War Criminal Executed Yesterday  
_**

NEW YORK - With the pull of a lever, it seems, the end of the war has finally come.

Yesterday, at 11pm Eastern Time and two days after his sentencing, former Fleetlord Straha was executed at an international military facility via hanging. The Race male, who had entered the public consciousness by ordering the Footfall attack, as well as the globally-broadcasted ultimatum where he threatened to 'destroy every last free nation on Earth', had been found guilty on multiple counts of crimes against humanity, and promptly sentenced to death by the international tribunal.

"The evidence was abundantly, overwhelmingly, clear," said Judge Robert Evans, who represented the United States on the tribunal. "There are numerous records, audio and textual, which clearly show that the widespread death of civilians was intentional."

Indeed, the records, which were made public by the tribunal a day into the trials, have been the source of some alarm. From Straha's discussion with former Advisor Pastempeh-keph on whether or not another orbital weapon could be used to wipe away the Eastern Seaboard, to disturbingly thorough plans for monuments and other cultural sites around the planet, it is clear that the former Fleetlord's cruelty was deliberate and genocidal in nature.

"He would have burned the f**king Constitution," exclaimed Christopher Daniels. Daniels, who had been present for the Feb. 9th surrender, is clearly infuriated at the thought as he speaks with us. "He would've knocked down the Taj Mahal and banned Star Wars. He, he would have made it illegal to basically be human. He was like a Saturday morning cartoon villain."

While hatred felt by virtually the entire world towards Straha needs no explanation, his standing amongst the Race and Fithp on Earth is little better, despite many having been under his command. Pastempeh-keph described the male as "a dangerous rogue", and spoke at length at the former Herdmaster's sudden mood swings that would leave underlings fearing for their lives. Terms like 'traitor' and 'forsaken' are popular amongst the Race males that sided with Atvar during the short-lived rebellions, especially those that had known those killed by Straha when they attempted to surrender in Egypt.

"Straha is a fool," stated Fleetlord Atvar, after the sentencing. "Straha is antithetical to the values of the Race. He slaughtered those under his command, and his barbarous actions accomplished nothing but more misery for all species on this planet. The Emperor would turn his back to Straha, if he knew now of what has occurred, and I am sure he will turn his back when the news finally reaches him. Had that ginger-taster not been stopped so early, he would have doomed Home with his vicious stupidity."

Atvar, who himself had been accused but ultimately acquitted of war crimes a week earlier, refused to give any comment on whether or not he would watch the execution.

The mechanics of the execution itself posed a problem for the tribunal. According to Lieutenant Bauby, the officer assigned to the task, "his [Straha's] biology isn't like humans. He, uh, he doesn't get affected by the same chemicals as us, in the same way. There was no way of knowing if lethal injection would kill him, or kill him quickly. And the chair wouldn't have fit him right. That's why we decided on hanging."

However, even that proved troublesome. According to witnesses of the execution, the former Fleetlord was still alive and visibly thrashing even half an hour after the hanging, before finally being declared dead at 11:46. "It was horrible," said Ethan Carter, who had been part of the prosecution. "It was almost like watching a fish get pulled out of the water."

The unconventional nature of the execution has already been a source of controversy, for a number of reasons. Some, such as Carter, are calling for an investigation, claiming that the execution was deliberately drawn out. Autopsy reports indicating that the rigid bone structure of the Race male's neck may have contributed to the issue have only muddled the matter. "I still think it was the best way to go," claims Bauby. "A bungled electrocution would've been even worse, and the same goes for lethal injection."

However, there are those who say there shouldn't have been an execution in the first place.

"He should have been brought back to Home in a cage, so the Emperor could see his evil and decide his fate accordingly," says Atvar. "Alive, he is an example, unchanging in message. Dead, he becomes abstract, and abstractions can be contorted."

"Killing him solved nothing," claims Anne-Sophie du Jonchère, a French ambassador to the UN. "What does it do? Does it bring the dead back? Does it restore Barcelona to the last brick? He is just another body to a pile I think we can agree is already too big."

Others, like Alexander Baxter of the Humanity First movement, hold a different opinion.

"That thing was a murderous little creature," says Baxter. "It was a mad dog that needed putting down. I'm just sad it didn't last longer. I wanted to see that thing's eyes pop."

Regardless of opinion, the execution of Straha marks the end of the trials, and already negotiations regarding the state of the post-war world are underway.

What awaits the world in the future, however, is uncertain.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar VII**

 _Putting the radio equipment back underneath his desk, Atvar flicks another switch on the holoprojector. The lines created by the Schism disappear, with the loyalist color becoming the sole mark of Race-occupied territory. Europe is completely devoid of the color, while large parts of Africa and the Middle East are still covered.  
_  
A: This was what territory remained under our control when the surrender was declared. Operation Earth had reclaimed more than a million square kilometers, and killed nearly fifteen million males, all in a single day.

 **Q: What do you mean, 'under your control', exactly? The surrender was total, wasn't it?  
**  
A: Yes, the surrender was total, but there were several elements at play. Firstly, there was the act of actually surrendering the territory to a proper occupying force. That was accomplished quickly enough in the United States, as the stragglers in Louisiana and Florida returned the land to American control, but it was not so simple in areas like Africa and the Middle East. There was no power structure we could truly surrender the territory _to_. In those areas, we had dismantled the governments, or they had fled to other nations. Who were we to return Rwanda to, if the nation of Rwanda no longer existed?

There was more than simply not having a power structure to take our place, however. There was also the issue of conflicting groups that claimed to be the real government, or governments that the people did not want back.

 **Q: Could you elaborate?  
**  
A: It shall be done.

 _Atvar pulls out some documents written in Race-tongue, and flips through them.  
_  
For conflicting groups, there was the civil war that had been occurring in the not-empire of South Sudan before our arrival, as well as the conflict between western oil companies and ethnic groups in Nijeriya, along the delta of some river. Who were we to cede the power to? It was especially confusing in Nijeriya, as many of the companies had pulled away or collapsed in the face of our conquest; we were to let them return?

And there were not-empires that the people did not want to see return. In Al-Mamlakah Al-ʿĀrabīyah As-Saʿūdīyah, we had instituted major changes in administration, particularly in regard to the treatment of females and other groups who had been abused, whether due to their religion or preference in mates. The idea of the King and his Wahabbist rule returning was enough to spark insurgency in some areas.

There was also the issue of the Korean peninsula. As the previous government had been completely demolished, was it to go to Zhōngguó, or Daehan Minguk, er, South Korea? The same went for various Central Asian nations that Russiya had tentatively liberated.

 **Q: Was that the reason for the Manhattan Conference?  
**  
A: Yes. Once the trials had been completed, the time had come to decide what should be done with the liberated and still-occupied territories, as well as the surviving males under my command and the Chpatisk Fithp. It would be an understatement to say that all parties were rather vested in what decisions the international community made. The intrigue I had experienced during the ceasefire was but a faint whiff of the foul odor of Tosevite politics.

It was especially true during that time, for it was perhaps the most pivotal moment for our five species, and the four worlds we inhabited. What was to be decided then would forever decide the future... the _fate,_ of entire civilizations, including my own.

 _He places the papers down.  
_  
Navigating such negotiations was almost as difficult as the actual war.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Chandrasekhar II**

 _Daubing his brow again, Chandra leans forward in his seat. He rubs his rounded chin, eyes focused elsewhere as he thinks.  
_  
 **Q: The Manhattan Conferences are regarded as one of the most important diplomatic moments in human history. What was your goal during that time, to have India achieve in the talks?  
**  
A: My _goal_? That is a rather interesting way to phrase it. I don't suppose I had any clear results I wanted the talks to accomplish, aside from maintaining my nation's sovereignty, and trying to ensure it healed the wounds of war. Whatever agreements required were secondary.

I would say that one of the most important issues, at least for me, was Pakistan. We had pushed the Race out of almost all of the nation's territory, but that left us with another issue, in the fact that we were now sitting on the nation that had been arguably our bitterest enemy. There were a _few_ , whom I shall not name, that pushed for me to not pull back the forces, to actually _stay_ in Pakistan.

 **Q: Why?  
**  
A: An annexation was out of the question. Many wouldn't even _want_ Pakistan back, but wanted to take measures that would ensure it would no longer be a threat to us. Proposed measures included a cap on military size, confiscation of all nuclear weapons, and so on. Essentially, they wished to defang the Pakistani asp, and to control it.

Naturally, the government in exile did not like the idea. They wished to be placed back in control of their nation, despite having very little to stand on in that Americans were also keen on defanging Pakistan, mainly out of a desire to root out any remnants of al-Qaeda or other organizations. However, other nations opposed the idea, saying that it was too similar to the punitive measures against Germany after the First World War, or the actions the Old Soviets took after the Second.

That was just one of the many points that were on the grand table during this time. There was also a need to reestablish trade, now that there was no worry of orbital strikes on shipments, and we needed to determine what would be done with the aliens on Earth, and what role they would play in rebuilding.

And we certainly needed to rebuild. Internet was down across most of the nation, and much of our vital infrastructure in Marasathra had been destroyed. And the loss of Mumbai...

 _He shakes his head.  
_  
This was a struggle virtually every nation on Earth faced. The status quo had been smashed with a hammer, or should I say a _foot_. Balance of power that had existed for decades had suddenly been rendered undone. Enemies had become allies, and now we faced the possibility that old allies would become enemies in the new world order.

 **Q: It must have been a troubling time.  
**  
A: Yes, it was. And we faced opposition from many angles, both expected and unexpected.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Ibe I**

 _The residence in Yenagoa is surprisingly small, with only a single floor, and a small gate. I am given a brief pat down before I can enter, then I am ushered into the humble abode of one of the most famous, and controversial, figures in post-war history. A short, powerful-looking man, Nwashuku Ibe is sitting on the living room floor, drinking a glass of warm soy milk. He offers me a firm handshake, and requests that I sit on the floor as well as we talk.  
_  
 **Q: Good afternoon, Mr. Ibe.  
**  
A: A good afternoon to you as well. There is no need to be so stiff; I am fond of your work. Please, ask ahead.

 **Q: Very well. As many are already aware, you were part of the Delta Freedom movement, before the war. How did you join that organization?  
**  
A: Because I am Ijaw. _Laughs._ No, no, there is more to that. I feel many still do not know of the conflict before the Lizards came. It was only a generation ago, and yet everything before the war seems shrouded in myth, like a long-forgotten time. I suppose it can be forgiven; what was lost during the war cannot be regained, and what we gained after cannot be taken away.

I was a young man during that time. I was fifteen when I joined the Delta Justice Mandate. It was a nonviolent protest group, doing marches and sit-ins.

 **Q: Against what, exactly?  
**  
A: Oil companies, both foreign and domestic. These capitalists had stayed after the end of British rule, but under other skins. Through bribery and economic coercion, they were allowed by the government to continue sucking oil from our lands. They ravaged the environment here, _here,_ in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. They cut down forests for facilities and excavations, they polluted our rivers with waste products as they took and refined the oil, and they caused us much grief as a result.

And despite the billions of dollars they got, we stayed undeveloped. Good hospitals and schools were scarce. We lived in squalor next to wealthy capitalists that took the resources from our land.

There had been movements agains the companies for decades. It was mainly nonviolent, until the government sent in troops to quell us, and killed Ogoni leaders. They declared our opposition to the exploitation _treason_. Then, it became militarized.

I was still part of a small, nonviolent group. We continued to march, and hold sit-ins, up until the announcement of the coming invasion. Things changed after that. The grip on the region tightened, as the companies and our own government felt the need to stockpile oil for the coming war. There was no tolerance for protest, and on one fateful march, we were shot at. I lost my older brother, Mujahid.

That was when I joined the Delta Freedom Movement, and became a fighter.

 **Q: You committed acts of terrorism?  
**  
A: Call it what you like. Terrorism, guerrilla fighting, or a struggle for freedom. I applaud those who have fought for their freedom without raising a hand, but these capitalists did not care for peaceful protest. If they had to kill us all to keep the oil, then they were willing to do it.

It was not an easy fight. Turnover was high, due to the increasing intensity of the fight, as we became more steadfast and they less forgiving. I was twenty when the Lizards came, and I was the second-in-command of the entire movement, then. The entire Delta had been engulfed by our uprisings at that point, as for every one they killed, three more rose up to avenge their friends and brothers.

It was funny, that things became more quiet when aliens conquered the nation. It was a relief, when compared to the fighting of before. The Lizards were far less brutal than the companies; they did not use human shields, or raped our sisters and daughters and mothers as tactics of suppression.

 **Q: Did you continue to fight?  
**  
A: Of course. The humanitarian works of the Lizards changed little for us. We were not like dogs, rolling over simply because they brought treats. But we decided to be more subtle. We could maneuver around the Lizards, and let them fight the enemy for us as we cemented our hold in regions.

The Schism made things even easier, as we made allies of defectors. Now, we had _proper_ equipment, and there was no need to hide in the shadows. Within a week of the war ending, the Delta was firmly in our control. The fortunes had shifted in our favor; the companies had been ousted, by us or the Lizards, and the government was in too great of a disarray to consider trying to retake the Delta.

 _He sips his soy milk.  
_  
However, the Manhattan Conference worried us.

 **Q: How so?  
**  
A: When has a shift in the world order benefitted this continent? The Scramble essentially raped all of us, from Ijaw to Xhosa to Makonde. Decolonization divided tribes or forced them to share land with enemies, embroiling them in conflict that the companies took advantage of to continue sucking us dry of resources.

If we wished to truly improve things, we needed to, as Americans say, put the foot in the door.

 **Q: And that was why you were sent to New York?  
**  
A: Yes. If we were to keep the companies from returning like vultures, I had to take a seat at that table.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _After another hour of walking through the streets, we sit down on a bench in Delhi's local Hero Park, just one of hundreds scattered across the subcontinent. Joshi stares at the tall marble pillar in the center of the park, where the names of those who perished in the line of duty during the war are inscribed._

 **Q: What was your time during the Manhattan Conference like?**

A: That... is a very hard question to answer. There was so much going on at that time, so many emotions rushing through me during those few weeks. I'd gone from a normal college student in Mumbai'i, to an orphaned prisoner who'd lost everything, to the leader of an entire _species_. I had no time to come to grips with one situation before I was thrust into another. No time to reflect, because there was work to do.

 _She shakes her head slightly._

Did you know that I'd never been to America before the Manhattan Conference? I literally went to _space_ before I went to Times Square. I'd always wanted to see America, and now that I was there, I couldn't enjoy the experience. I spent almost my entire time in some lavish hotel suite, hunched over mountains of paperwork, surrounded by some of the most airtight security devised. I had huge warriors, who just a week ago had been willing to kill me, now ready to take a bullet for me as my bodyguards. There was this massive one in particular, Chinpimithap, who sat outside my bedroom while I slept, like Ganesha guarding Parvati.

Of course, Chris never knocked his head off, like Shiva did.

 _She smiles._

Chris and I were glued together during that time, and not just because he was one of the only things in the world that mattered to me. He helped me out with the paperwork, and his friend Wallafess helped serve as an unofficial channel to the Race during the Conference. Still, I did the lion's share of the work and studying.

 **Q: What do you mean exactly by 'studying'?**

A: Are you kidding? If I wanted to actually be a leader, I had to know all sorts of things. I mean, I was always interested in politics, but I was majoring in Literature before my university became radioactive dust. I was essentially taking a crash course in pre-war politics, and what had been going on in the world while I was in space. Until I was filled in after contacting the _Michael_ , I had no idea about Atvar's defection, or the Schism, or the exact details of Operation Earth.

Not to mention I didn't really have any advisors who didn't have trunks. After all, who could I trust. American advisors would've spied on me, just as Chinese advisors, or Russian advisors. I ended up accepting some UN workers to help me out, but I still held them at arm's length.

Interestingly enough, do you know who proved to be immensely helpful with my research?

 **Q: Who?**

A: Atvar.

As Fleetlord, he had access to almost all of the information his forces had acquired about the world, and as a member of the Race, he was as transparent as a piece of glass. It was no scale off his nose to tell me everything, because he had no vested interest in secrets. And while there was naturally a lot of bias in the field reports, it was a bias that I could easily detect. The Race had no reason to make one nation look good, or one nation look bad, because they were outsiders who'd intended to conquer us all.

Of course, it was all relegated; I never even saw him until Straha's trial. Quite a dour figure. His translator and official human buddy Traoré, however, was _very_ friendly. I spoke with him and Wallafess the most, and occasionally met with Ttomalss.

I had a lot of correspondences during that time, actually.

 **Q: Correspondences?**

A: With the representatives who'd flooded into New York after the trials were concluded. Remnants of the old governments that'd been ousted by the Race, rebel leaders, activists... People like al-Jīn, Costa, Ibe.

There was the whole issue of determining the new world order, after all. Leaders and thinkers from all around the planet, and from a few other planets, trying to answer the most pressing questions at the time.

"How would the regions the Race had conquered be rebuilt? Who would govern them, and how would they be governed? How would the new borders be drawn? What role will the Race play in this?"

And, of great importance to me, "What will be done with the Fithp?"

 **Q: Is that why you didn't relinquish control of the fithp?**

A: Yes... and no. It is far more complicated than that. Even after all the things that I'd suffered, I still knew that the fithp were essentially lost children. They were a hunter-gatherer culture that'd been granted the key to the stars, and they didn't know the consequences of using it. There were millions of innocents aboard. Women, children... people who simply wanted a home.

 _Her gaze hardens._

Could you imagine what the Chinese would've done to them if they'd gotten the herd? They had committed atrocities on peaceful students; imagine the things they'd've done if they'd managed to get their claws on the herd that'd broken the Three Gorges Dam. Or how about the Americans, the same people who'd installed military dictatorships in democratic nations, just to protect their interests. Imagine if they'd gotten their hands on all the toys the fithp had brought with them?

If I'd given the fithp to any one country, it would've plunged the world into chaos. At that moment, the safest hands were my own, if only because I was not the leader of any other country.

 _She pauses._

There was something else, too.

 **Q: Could you elaborate?**

A: As a child, I always felt... helpless. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense that I felt like I couldn't do anything to make the world a better place. Every day, it seemed there was some new injustice, some new genocide, and there was nothing I could do about it. Protesting felt like a balm, a way to make you think you were doing something, but even that would only work in your own borders, if it ever worked at all.

What could some well-meaning youth do against that? Corruption was everywhere, and it felt unbeatable. Politics would eat you up and spit you out, or turn you into one of the problems with the world. I felt like a pebble trying to change the course of a river.

And then, all of a sudden, I was of the most important and influential people in four solar systems. I held more clout in the meetings to come than entire nations.

What's the old term? With the right lever, you can move the world. Well, I had the lever, and by the heavens was I going to make the world move.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Ttomalss II**

 _After pausing a few minutes to reply to a student email, Ttomalss signals for me to continue.  
_  
 **Q: After hearing about your involvement in the ceasefire of December '20, I'd imagine you also assisted the Fleetlord considerably during the Manhattan conferences, yes?  
**  
A: Certainly. I went from overworked to _very_ overworked. No longer was I attempting to determine the psychology of a future client species; now, I was to assist in the creation of governments, while trying to help the remnants of our Conquest Fleet... I suppose the proper term is 'earn brownie points'.

 **Q: Creation? Brownie points?  
**  
A: Let's be clear, first. We _lost_. Once all was said and done, there were only fifteen million of us left, including our non-combat personnel, such as myself. We had lost forty million lives. Forty. _Million_. Two whole generations decimated. To put that into a picture, seventy percent of the Race's males hatched between year 109,270 and year 109,280 had perished on this chilly world. That's including Home, Rabotev II, and Halless I.

The Fleetlord was painfully aware of our sudden vulnerability. Not just that of us, or the Colonization Fleet, but of Home itself. Your world was now the most militarily powerful for a dozen light-years around, and though you lacked the capacity for interstellar travel like we did, we knew it would only be a matter of time before you learned our secrets.

Therefore, it was in our best interests to assist your world as much as possible in the reconstruction process. I'm sure the Fleetlord and others will tell you of that in greater detail. I am only a psychologist, after all.

All I shall say, is that in the aftermath of the war, our help was _needed_.

 **Q: What did you work entail, then?  
**  
A: Firstly? Research. As much research as I could possibly do in such a timeframe. I had been placed into an unofficial think-tank, consisting of Traoré, Intelligence Officer Drefsab, my fellow researcher Starraf, and the Fleetlord himself. It was essentially an accelerated version of my previous research, but with more emphasis on your history, psychology, and political climate. Now that the internet had been restored in a few nations, we managed to acquire volumes upon volumes of information.

Of course, the real issue at claw was- how could we _apply_ this information to the reconstruction? And what would Earth _allow_ us to apply?

For that, it would be wise to acquire allies at the negotiating table. Drefsab and I were assigned to screen for the various political figures that had emerged in Africa and the Middle East during and after the war, to see which ones would be willing to cooperate with us, or would at least appease the other powers.

 _There is a sound behind me, and I turn to see Fistarteh-thuktun barge into the office, looking rather disgruntled.  
_  
A (Fistarteh): I maintain the opinion that it was your herd's attempt at neo-colonialism.

A (Ttomalss): Not this again.

 **Q: What makes you say that?  
**  
A (Fistarteh): I assisted my Herdmistress during the conference, and participated in the correspondences between her and the Fleetlord. It is my opinion that the Home herd was screening candidates by their own standards. Standards that are not necessarily aligned with the Winterhome herds, or my own herd.

A (Ttomalss): So apparently trying to help make a stable government is Race neo-colonialism?

A (Fistarteh): It is, when they appeal to your concept of stability.

A (Ttomalss): If I was going by the Race model, why would I have bothered with the research? Why were individuals like Ibe and al-Jīn selected for allies?

 _Fistarteh-thuktun snorts through his trunks, and rests on his tail as he watches the interview. Ttomalss hisses, then turns back to me.  
_  
A (Ttomalss): Besides, even assuming that were attempting neo-colonialism, one only needs to read a history book to see how that turned out.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **New York Times Article - February 27th, 2021**

 _ **A Kingless Kingdom**  
Protests in Riyadh Continue onto 11th Day with no Sign of Stopping  
_

RIYADH - For the Saudi people, the war is over, but the battle has yet to be won.

For more than ten days, the capital of Saudi Arabia has been the host to one of the single largest post-war protests in the entire world. After an initial protest of five thousand, the crowd has grown rapidly, to the point where a half million people have now gathered in the main square of the city.

Of these protestors, more than three hundred thousand are women, in flagrant defiance of their pre-war restrictions. Many have bared their heads and faces, while others have done away with their robes entirely. They hold banners in flourished Arabic calligraphy, with phrases like 'freedom' and 'democracy' most common, and chant tirelessly at themselves and at passerby.

Their message is clear- the King is not to return to Saudi Arabia.

"Before the war, only my hands and eyes could be seen," one such protestor says. She points to her bared face, black hair flowing wild in the breeze. "Now, I can walk the streets like this."

Such a change has been accredited to the Race presence in the nation, especially after Riyadh's capture in late November. Starting on December 2nd, the Race had imposed a total abolition of Sharia law, at the order of Fleetlord Atvar.

"It had been night and day," the anonymous protestor continues. "A complete change. The King forced me to wear it, and then the Fleetlord forced me to take it off. There was still no choice in it, but it was far less stifling."

Now that the war is over, however, the newly-liberated populace faces new obstacles. Violence against women has increased drastically in the week since the surrender, with over a dozen acid attacks reported, and many are worried that their brief freedom will soon be at an end.

"When my husband beat me, the government did nothing," another protestor says. "By Sharia, I was subservient to him. Then, two days after the snakes came to this city, my husband beat me to the point where I could barely see. What did the snakes do? They hanged him, as they hanged hundreds of other men who had beaten their wives. And now, the snakes are no longer in power. Is the King to return, and am I to be forced to marry another man who will beat me?"

She shakes her head. "No. I will die here before I let that happen again."

She would not be the first to die here. Three days ago, a counter-protest came to blows with the northeast corner of the crowd, leading to two deaths and nineteen injuries. Such counter-protests have circled the crowd, attempting to ensure no food or water is sent their way. Thankfully, they are outnumbered three hundred to one, and other passerby have been kind enough to donate food and toiletries.

"What's wrong with it?" local merchant 'Āmūs ibn Khalid ibn Saeed al-Fulan says, gesturing to the crowd. "Why can't my wife drive to work? When did the Prophet say a woman couldn't drive a Honda?"

Still, as measure against future violence, over two thousand Race troopmales and two hundred fithp have been stationed in the city square with express permission from the UN Security Council. Despite the confiscation of most of their equipment, their presence seems enough to maintain peace.

"Look at them," says college student Fáris ibn Tariq ibn 'Ifrāym al-Jīn, pointing at a pair of fithp riot guards. "The bigger one's literally bending his baton in anticipation of one of these idiots trying something. Would you want to take him on?"

Nevertheless, tensions remain high in the city. Just yesterday, a large banner reading 'Traitors', with an illustration of a woman kneeling before a Race male, was strung across a building. It had remained visible for over an hour before being taken down.

Likewise, some of the protestors in the main square are beginning to chafe at the presence of the Race.

"This is not about them," states a teenaged protestor. She points at the line of Race guards. "They make us look like traitors. Like we are willing slaves to them. They did not start this protest; we did. They gain nothing from this, but we do. We do not wish to be ruled by neither the King or the Fleetlord, but by ourselves."

Regardless, the movement shows no sign of losing momentum any time soon. Similar protests have sprung up in nearly every major city in the nation, and there are strong indicators that they will begin coordinating with each other. Already, the protestors have become a viral sensation, with the hashtag #FreeSaudi garnering ten million uses on Twitter. The movement has even made its way to the Manhattan Conference, with supporters ranging from French President Bernard to Herdmistress Mamta Joshi, to Fleetlord Atvar himself.

What impact these protests will have on the negotiations remains to be seen. The future seems uncertain, but for now, the women of Saudi Arabia stand free.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Ibe II**

 _After some convincing, I accept Ibe's offer of soymilk as the interview continues. He is visibly pleased with his success.  
_  
A: Though I was a political protestor first, I was always trying to keep myself up to date with environmental issues. Realizing the importance of weaning off pastureland, and implementing that change, is one of the things I'm most proud of.

 **Q: Did you have that in mind when you went to the Manhattan Conference?  
**  
A: I had many things in mind. All the way to New York, I was considering how the goals we had in mind, from thwarting the oil barons to preserving the Delta, to pushing forward a vision of a stronger Africa, to even my clothes.

 **Q: Clothes?  
**  
A: Of course! Presentation is crucial when trying to establish a nation. During my time in the Delta, during the war and during the establishment of an unofficial government, I wore military fatigues we had taken from a depot. I actually liked wearing them. They were useful and didn't wear easily, especially compared to more fancy clothes. Besides...

 _He gives a directed glance at a portrait hanging in his study, of a youthful Mossi man wearing military fatigues and a distinct red beret.  
_  
I suppose I was trying to emulate my idol.

 **Q: You have openly praised Sankara many times in the past. Would you say you were drawing inspiration from him during the Conference?  
**  
A: That would be an understatement. I practiced my oratory skills while watching old videos of his speeches, though I doubt I was ever as funny as he was. Charm cannot be gained through practice; you either are born with it, or you're not.

That's a digression, however. While I was certainly trying to emulate the Upright Man, I knew that even he made mistakes. Aside from the obvious one of trusting Campaoré, he made himself too easy a target to the outside powers. My people were coming from a position of little power and going against a meeting of all the nations of the world, as well as _two_ extraterrestrial polities that could hold considerable sway. I had to oppose them, but I could not _antagonize_ them. You have to politely tell them to fuck off, not yell it.

I watched American movies in my youth. I knew that it'd be a bad idea to dress in the style Westerners thought off when the term 'warlord' came to mind. So, I had my girlfriend dress me in traditional Ijaw clothing, made from homegrown fibers. It made me look friendlier, while also eschewing Western ideals of dress.

 **Q: Were you nervous when you finally arrived in Manhattan?  
**  
A: Nervous? Hmm. I wasn't sweating or trembling, and I certainly didn't stutter in my speeches. But I felt like a cornered animal, sometimes. I was surrounded by enemies, even if they weren't at the table. The oil companies were listening to the Conference with _vested_ interest. If I wanted to accomplish anything, I needed to find allies. Thankfully, I found plenty.

A good third of the representatives and wannabe nation-makers at the Conference were... atypical, compared to the remaining world leaders. Many heads of state that'd been in power before the invasion were dead, missing, or were quickly swept out of the Conference. The Kims were atomic dust, no one knew where the fuck the Iranian President had gone, and the Saudi King was given the boot halfway through after the protests in his homeland had reached a boiling point.

That made room for idealists and fanatics, and no one could agree which was which. Joshi was like a magnet, drawing them out of the woodwork, convincing them that they could do something. Almost all of them were young, such as myself; the median age had to be twenty four or twenty five, if I had to hazard a guess. You had a few older leaders, like Costa and Morgan, but they were few and far between.

And that was not even getting into the aliens.

Joshi was the first ally I made. She wasn't keen on the 'c-word' that I embodied, but she agreed with many of my viewpoints on fair labor and women's rights, and in turn I sensed a youth that wanted to push back against the problems plaguing her own nation. I was no stranger to ethnic violence that had been exacerbated by colonialism. I even managed to introduce many of her new herd to the Manifesto.

 **Q: What about the others?  
**  
A: Atvar came later. There was quite a bit of bad blood between him and I, even if I had to thank him for chasing out the oil companies. After all, he _had_ occupied my nation, and I could sense he still clung to many colonialist views at the time. In turn, I had killed many troopmales during my resistance movment, and the idea of a movement that was outright antithetical to monarchs like his Emperor scared him pelletless.

But, we both opposed the oppression and ecological devastation that had wracked much of the continent, and we were both very egalitarian when it came to equal rights and worker privileges. Turns out the colonialist lizards only had ten hour work weeks back Home. So, we eventually agreed to support each other during the Conference.

By the time the negotiations were reaching the crucial point, we had made a unified front composing much of Africa, and two alien species.

 _He chuckles.  
_  
That was when things would get interesting.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Petrikov IV**

 _Petrikov's eyes fall to his cup of tea as he pauses for a few moments, drumming his fingers along the armrest of his chair.  
_  
A: A lot of people put too much into the Manhattan Conferences. No, no, that's not quite right. There _was_ a lot in the Conferences; they were the single most important diplomatic event in history. It's more... that people often attribute the wrong things to the Conferences. The war was the cause of everything in the new world, of course, but that is cheating. It was like a monster that ate everything before it, and now we had to pick through the shit to determine cause and effect.

 **Q: What situations would you say were not entirely the result of the Conferences?  
**  
A: My own nation's situation, as well as much of Central Asia. There was a long history behind the issues, even before the war. The old Union, for example, and its downfall. Trade deals, oligarchies, old internal divisions, all mulched between the yascherit's fangs and spat back out. Millennia of history, from the Khan to the Czars to Lenin, all culminating in the wake of this invasion.

 _He produces some old maps from his briefcase, setting them down for me to see. Old Russia and Central Asia are most prominent, as well as red lines marking troop movements through Western Europe.  
_  
In a matter of days, we were in control of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the rest of Central Asia, as well as half of Iran. Combined with the fact that we were still maintaining a presence in Mongolia, and still had six million men in Western Europe that we needed to pull out... we had a lot on our plates.

 **Q: Some news articles at the time likened it to a return of the USSR.  
**  
A: If it was, it was unwanted. This was not the same nation that won the Great Patriotic War, no matter what my President may have thought. A massive portion of our army was essentially at the mercy of Europe; we could only reach France to fight because they allowed us to pass through. If things soured with our wartime allies, those transportation lines could be cut with the snap of a finger.

Besides, the territory we were technically in charge of was nearly half the size of our own nation, and actually had a higher population. Between the costs of policing, or occupying, or setting up the proper government structures, it was clear we did not want that territory.

But we did not want to give it to our enemies, either. Which meant we were just sitting on it, waiting for the Conferences to reach a decision. It was a time of... unease. We had the occasional insurgency to contend with, as well as our own growing troubles.

 **Q: Growing troubles?  
**  
A: It is actually quite ironic, I suppose. In the first two world wars, much fighting had occurred on our soil, with great loss of life and destruction to our cities. And yet, the enemy did not set a single toeclaw in Russia in the third world war. Our cities were untouched, and the only marks from the war on our soil were the destroyed railways and cables from the slony bombardment.

The other costs, however, were far more punishing.

Compared to the Old Union, we were much weaker economically; when the incoming Conquest Fleet was detected, we had less than a _tenth_ of America's purchasing power. Our armed forces had serious issues in terms of maintenance, and yet we still had to make it into something that could be ready to fight in the largest and most crucial war in history. _That_ , that was murder on our economy. Six years of total war spending, where the percentage of GDP funneled into the military went from four percent to _forty-four,_ and entire industries were cut down to make room for vital efforts.

And then, the actual costs of the war. The Americans and Chinese and Indians may have suffered the most deaths, and other major powers may have suffered catastrophic damage, but we had seen perhaps the most combat. In the span of a handful of months, we had launched expeditions into Mongolia and China that would have otherwise been some of the largest in history, only to then engage in the single longest front of the war with six million men in Asia, plus another six million men fighting thousands of miles from home soil. The Americans had one front in the war if you discount their small contributions to Brazil; we had _four_.

The tens of trillions of rubles spent on logistics alone were arguably worse for us than the two million casualties, even when you consider how our demographics could not afford that many deaths when compared to China or India. We had devoured two years worth of oil in two months. It was as though we were the berserkers of old, fighting so viciously that we dropped dead without a cut.

 **Q: Would you say then that you knew what awaited Russia in the future?  
**  
A: Certainly. And it was a fate that others would share, I knew. Our economy had held together purely from the pressure of the incoming invasion, like a vase being held together by the box it was shipped in. But the war was over, now, and those cracks were only getting wider...  
 _He shakes his head.  
_  
I knew even then that entire nations, nations puffing their chests in Manhattan and acting as though they were still world powers, were dead men walking. They survived the war, but they would not survive the peace.

That is what I meant, by people placing too much into the Manhattan Conferences. The breaking apart and coming together across the world that followed would have happened, no matter what. The world had been shattered by the war, hit in old cracks and weakpoints that had been forming for all of human history.

The conference did not decide who would break. But, it did decide how the pieces would be put back together.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Atvar VIII**

 _The Fleetlord rifles through his papers, keeping one eye turret fixed on me as he reads.  
_  
A: Did you know that Home has no diplomacy? No ambassadors, no embassies, no treaties? They went extinct with the birth of the Race, and the ascension of the Emperor. The various not-empires that had ruled Home in our prehistory were swept aside and forgotten, their treaties and old methods of negotiation left to fade, with only the Emperor to remember them. After all, we were the only true civilization in the universe, complete unto ourselves. We had no enemies to appease, or equals to ally ourselves with. Only uncivilized tribes across the stars, that must be brought into the fold.

When I had decided to negotiate during the December Ceasefire, I had broken a hundred thousand years of truth. I had to spurn the truth that we were the only people, and treat polities that did not even control one planet as equal to an empire of three worlds. Many Shiplords did not want to face that terrible reality, and I suspect that is why I was so easily deposed after Operation Yi.

And now, with the Manhattan Conferences, I had to go one step further. I was no longer merely the first to break a hundred thousand years of Race totality, but the first to negotiate our _surrender_. To acknowledge that the Race had been beaten, and to negotiate with so-called uncivilized tribes not as equals, but as the defeated.

 **Q: But only the military forces of the Race were to stand down. Home did not even know of the war, let alone have the Emperor negotiate.  
**  
A: Home was defeated; it just did not know yet. Do you know the costs of a Conquest?

 **Q: No.  
**  
A: Home is a metal-poor system. We maintain a near 100% recycling rate on our world, to ensure the little metal and non-renewable resources we have are spent well. The construction of a Conquest Fleet takes up ninety percent of our industrial output for two generations, with a massive fraction of our male population dedicated to the Soldier's Time, while another large, but smaller, fraction of the populace is dedicated to the training of troopmales and construction of equipment. That does not even get into the Colonization Fleet, which is less resource intensive but more person-intensive.

I was part of the first generation, selected as an officer alongside the trainers, and I was pronounced Fleetlord at the end of the second generation's training.

 _He hisses in mirth.  
_  
The other option would have been architect.

 **Q: It is honestly shocking that you would invest so much time and effort into such a massive undertaking.  
**  
A: The undertaking is massive, yes, but so is the end result. For four generations' worth of construction and personpower, we gain an entire _world_. Hundreds of millions are suddenly added to our workforce, the amount of solar energy available for our renewable energy grid is roughly doubled, and we suddenly have access to a wealth of minerals, as well as living space for colonists.

When we conquered Rabotev II and Halless I, we nearly tripled the amount of metals available for industrial processes, quadrupled potential energy output, and doubled our population. It took many, many years, but the costs of our Conquests were more than payed for.

Now then, look at T... Earth. Despite its rugged nature and unpleasant climate, it is unbelievably valuable. Your soil is absurdly fertile, allowing for a population greater than Home's, despite having only half of the available land area, less if you consider how inhospitable Antarctica is. Your violent climate, while harmful, provides many opportunities for wind power, geothermal, and hydroelectric, and your oceans provide bountiful supplies for fusion reactors.

Then there is the wealth buried in your world's crust. Iron, silicon, osmium, all in great abundance. And the system itself was rich. We could not mine our own asteroid belts, not because we didn't think to, but because Homestar's low metallicity made them worthless rocks. Our probes, however, had shown that Tosev's asteroid belt was rich in metal, as was your massive moon. The Emperor had voiced to me that he hoped that in a mere five thousand years, we would be pulling wealth from those as well.

All in all, Earth would have quadrupled our mineral resources, doubled our energy output, and added billions to our workforce. To use a Britainnish term, Earth would have been the Jewel of the Empire.

And we lost it.

 _He shakes his head.  
_  
The single largest expenditure of resources in the Race's history was a lost venture. Tens of millions had been killed, decimating entire generations, and there would be no future returns. The defeat at Earth is the greatest disaster the Race has ever faced, on every level.

That is what I mean when I say that Home has lost. There may be some greater civilizations lurking in a distant part of the galaxy, but as far as I am concerned, we have been supplanted as the rulers of the universe. Earth, not Home, has emerged from the war as the most powerful world in all known space, all without even leaving the orbit of your moon. By the very fact that you have a military left, the Race was... _is_ , at the mercy of humanity.

Truly, these were maddening times, and it fell upon me to navigate them.

And so, I swallowed what little pride I had left, and played the human game of diplomacy. I made alliances, I spied, and I played under the table.

 **Q: What were your goals during that time?  
**  
A: Only one thing: the safety of Home. No matter what concessions and appeasements it took, I would ensure that the human powers, as well as the fithp, would agree to peace with Home. Thankfully, I still had clout in that regard.

 **Q: Would you care to elaborate?  
**  
A: We still had much of Africa and the Middle East under our control, even if it was no longer ours to colonize. We could support certain homegrown groups that wanted control over the conquered not-empires, if they were willing to support us in turn when it came to the hardliner not-empires. Ibe was one such example. I supported his group's claim to the Niger Delta, and in turn he argued for the protection of Race troopmales and a diplomatic mission to Home.

And in another way, many _needed_ the Race. The planet had been devastated by the war, many regions were in dire need of reconstruction. But that same destruction, along with the continued aftereffects of Footfall, made efforts immensely difficult. Zhongguo was still struggling with the destruction of Chongqing, as well as the Three Gorges Dam, for example.

However, we still had sixteen starships, millions of troopmales, and thousands of pieces of equipment. We had always had the best logistics during the war, and now those logistics could be turned to humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. We could land in the middle of an afflicted area, and disgorge tens of thousands of aid workers, along with thousands of tons worth of food, medical supplies, and construction equipment.

Intelligence Officer Drefsab had made the suggestion to me, and so I espoused it during the Conference. I sweetened the offer, at the behest of Joshi, by adding that the UN could decide what supplies were to be put into the ships, with the addition of their own aid workers.

 **Q: How popular was the offer?  
**  
A: The Zhongguoren outright refused. Zhongguo would be rebuilt by Zhongguo, they said, not alien conquerors. The other not-empires, however, were far more amiable to the idea. A joint coalition between the United Nations, as well as the remainders of the Conquest Fleet, was announced as part of the final treaty.

That was but one part, however, and there was much more that needed to be accomplished.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jonchère IV**

 _du Jonchere and I continue our walk through the Louvre. As we return to the discussion of negotiations, she becomes more animated as we talk.  
_  
 **Q: Some people have compared the creation of new borders in Race-occupied territory to European decolonization. Would you agree with this?  
**  
A: You must be joking, yes? The dynamics were completely different from any large-scale forfeiture of territory, from Versailles to our own departure from Africa. This was not some world power deciding that direct rule would be more trouble than it is worth, nor was it divvying up the spoils of war. The Race did not draw the borders, nor did we. We may have _approved them_ via the United Nations, but ultimately a lot of the borders drawn were made by local leaders.

As a result, many of the new borders in these regions were based on ethnic or linguistic lines. Nations with a long history of ethnic strife were divided, though many nations actually expanded their borders due to the influence of Pan-African leaders. There were easy examples, such as Darfur gaining independence from the rest of Sudan, with the architects of the genocide being brought forward to the Hague at the behest of Fleetlord Atvar.

It wasn't a walk in the park, however, you must understand. The Kurdish people were a major point of contention. They wanted a proper homeland for themselves, and the success of their militias against the Race during the war meant that they effectively had the force to back it up. On the other hand, many local leaders in former Iraq and Iran were opposed to the idea, and Turkey was adamant against it.

Not to mention the issues of people who were looking for opportunities to secede from nations that still stood but were weakened, such as China, or nations whose existence was dependent on pre-war political dynamics, like Israel...

This meant compromise. That was the keyword of this negotiation, just like any other. Compromise, compromise, compromise. Kurdistan gained independence, but without most of its territory in Turkey. It was a tale repeated all over the territories the Race had captured. The Race had to compromise with local leaders, who had to compromise with the UN, who had to compromise with its member nations.

I know my own nation certainly had to compromise. We lost a lot of trade deals with the collapse of governments in Africa, as well as access to many resources. And many of the leaders rising in the ashes were not the kind to reopen those trade deals. But, we just couldn't muscle in on it. We didn't have a South anymore, millions were dead, and our scientists told us that we were in for a _rough_ winter. We were just too _tired_ to fight for everything.

In the end, no one was completely happy with the new world. But no one was completely unhappy with it, either. It was... enough. Enough to allow for future change, without embroiling us in conflict a generation later.

 _She smiles faintly.  
_  
That, in my opinion, was a success.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi IX**

 _Joshi stares thoughtfully at the monument at Hero Park, twiddling her thumbs.  
_  
A: It felt so strange, now that I can look back at it. So much of it, I was on autopilot, poring over documents and giving speeches and sending emails to diplomats, with almost no time to breath, to relax. I was the leader of an entire people, and their future were in my bruised hands. I couldn't think about my home in lost Mumbai'i, not when I had to ensure that the fithp would be safe, and that the nations of the world wouldn't fight over their secrets. I didn't even try to find out about my extended family in Delhi until the Conference was over.

It felt like something out of a movie. A scared college student from Mumbai'i; a med student from Winsconsin; a burnt out Rabotev troopmale; the leader of an invasion fleet, and a communist guerilla, working together with insurgents and aliens and politicians... I'd spend my morning reading news with Chris and Wallafess, then argued with the UN council at noon, before reviewing proposals with Atvar and Traore in the afternoon, followed by making new plans with Fistarteh-tulk and Ibe in the evening.

It was after a week that I proposed having the fithp also assist in reconstruction efforts, using the remaining digit ships to reallocate supplies and tools. I would offer some fithp technologies to multinational research groups as well, tools that would help with the civilian sector.

We were all running on a clock, though. The _Flishithy_ couldn't hold the Chpatisk fithp inside forever; they needed a _home_. The Race couldn't just stay in limbo forever with their occupied territory, and they needed to ensure that they wouldn't be executed en masse as soon as they ceded land and officially disarmed. And the world wanted to get started with reconstruction and reopening trade, before the winter came.

 **Q: Is that why you agreed to splitting territory for the herd?  
**  
A: Yes. Though, I still tried my hardest to ensure the fithp got the best land, in places safe for them. Ibe promised them land near the Niger Delta in exchange for a working fusion reactor by 2023. Brazil gave them a patch along the fringes of the Amazon near Belem, in exchange for a spaceport by 2025. Indonesia gave us the biggest chunk of land in Borneo, but merely wanted a large cut of any trade that came through there.

Was it as good as having one larger nation? No. They may have been independent, but I knew that we would be heavily scrutinized, vulnerable. But... it was better than the alternative.

 _She pauses, then reaches into her coat pocket, pulling out a folded paper, yellowed with age. She unfolds it along worn creases, and lets me see it.  
_  
 **Q: Is that...  
**  
A: My copy of the World Armistice? Yes. I like to still read it from time to time, especially when things are going rough. My favorite line is here.

 _She clears her throat.  
_  
"In the wake of this conflict, the most momentous and destructive in the history of not one world, but five, it is the spirit of this Armistice that a war between the human race of Earth; the fithp race of Hearth; and the Race of Home; is undesired, that war in and of itself must no longer be waged by any party on the surface of the Earth, and that a lasting peace between all five peoples of the Solar System must be maintained, if prosperity is to come to all."

 _She lets me look at the bottom, where a number of signatures rest, in a multitude of scripts. There is the Latin Alphabet, Chinese hanzi, Cyrillic script, and even Race-tongue marking Atvar's signature. The most notable one, however, is the one near the top, written in Devanagari._

 _Mamta Joshi, Herdmistress of the Earth Fithp.  
_

Peace hasn't been easy. There have been scary moments, infuriating moments, moments that seemed hopeless... but it is peace. Peace with everyone a little unhappy is better than a peace where someone is _very_ unhappy, for that just leads back to war. We've all been a little unhappy for the past twenty years, but there has still been peace. And that...

 _She offers a wry smile._

That is good.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Seventeen: Armistice_**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Happy Armistice Day, everyone.**


	18. Chapter 18

**United Nations Global Invasion Special Commission  
Preliminary Report on the Total Casualties of World War Three (Invasion of Earth)**

During the seventy eight days of World War Three, from the start of combat on November 23rd, 2020 to February 9th, 2021, total casualties, both civilian and military, as well as human and alien, reached a scale that can only be deemed 'catastrophic'. Despite the rough estimates of this report, it is clear that this war has proven the deadliest war in human history, and possibly in the history of both the Fithp and the Empire of the Race.

It must be reiterated that the current casualty report is a rough estimate. A high percentage of combat took place in regions with incomplete record-keeping, such as Tanzania, or many records were lost in fighting, as with India. Likewise, the presence of homeless, illegal immigrants, and other unregistered residents in cities that were outright destroyed means that an accurate casualty count cannot be attained. In such cases, census data and estimates made by the UN in summer of 2020 are used in their place, correlated with 79,452 documents across the globe.

Race documents on casualty rates for their own personnel are by far the most accurate. Of the exactly 60 million Race personnel, including their soldiers (called troopmales), officers, technicians, doctors, and other specialists, total deaths come to 41,392,792. Of these casualties, the vast majority were of troopmales, with 37,332,887 deaths and 2,993,187 wounded. Officer casualties came to 2,310,345 dead and 2,187 wounded, while specialists came to 993,213 dead and 345 wounded. Medical personnel and researchers suffered the lowest casualties, with 756,347 deaths and 399 wounded.

Of these casualties, an overwhelming number were combat-related. It is estimated that 34 million of these casualties were inflicted by humans, with the remaining 4 million inflicted by the Fithp, as well as 1 million deaths from the so-called Schism. The remaining three million deaths or so are a point of contention, due to confounding factor of ginger withdrawal. The official Race claim is approximately half a million, but many experts believe this is merely an attempt to ward off future ginger tasters by creating an alarmist figure. UN estimates range to a mere 2,000 deaths from ginger withdrawal, with the vast majority only exacerbating pre-existing conditions or injuries. The largest killer in terms of non-combat deaths was hypothermia, due to the Race adapting poorly to Earth's winters. Estimates range from 400,000 to 1,200,000. Other causes include accidental consumption of toxic foods, radiation poisoning, and, strangely enough, hostile wildlife. One report even states that twenty-two troopmales in Burundi were eaten by crocodiles, though Intelligence Officer Drefsab's insistence that it was almost entirely the work of the notable specimen named 'Gustave' is held in doubt.

Fithp casualties are harder to ascertain, as many believed killed in action have turned up in remote locations across the planet, serving as slaves. Likewise, the Chpatisk Fithp's tribalist nature meant that ground deployment were difficult to confirm. Estimates for military casualties range from 233,389 to 243,420, with deaths ranging from 219,883 to 224,154. Civilian deaths only come to 34, half of which came from the final attack on the _Thuktun Flishithy_ during Operation Earth. Nevertheless, in terms of percentage, the fithp suffered the highest casualties of the war, with an estimated 23% of their population lost.

Of most interest to the UNGISC, however, are human casualties. The sheer scale of human loss during the war, especially due to the disproportionate amount of casualties from wide-area attacks such as nuclear weaponry, deliberate destruction of dams, orbital impactors, and even an asteroid impact.

Of these casualties, military losses are the easiest to determine. In a twist of fate, it appears that total military casualties in the Third World War are fewer than those of the Second, with an estimated 18 million dead and 3 million wounded. Of the various pre-war nations, the highest number of casualties were in the People's Republic of China, with 4,219,332 to 4,302,299 deaths recorded. The United States of America follows closely behind, with an estimated figure of 3,122,980 deaths, while the Republic of India suffered between 3,029,345 and 3,592,341 deaths.

The remaining casualties are highly contested, due to loss of records. The former Democratic People's Republic of Korea, for example, is estimated to have lost anywhere between 500,000 to 1,500,000 soldiers during the invasion, but the destruction of Pyongyang makes such numbers almost impossible to pin down. Likewise, the lack of official records makes an accurate estimate of casualties for partisan fighters in nations such as Nigeria or the Democratic Republic of the Congo difficult. Nevertheless, rough estimates give total military casualties in Sub-Saharan Africa at approximately 1 million, with 2-3 million estimated deaths in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Civilian casualties, however, are far greater. While the Race avoided inflicting damage on civilian structures before Straha's mutiny, the sheer scale of their conquests in Africa and the Middle East during the first stage in the war still resulted in approximately 300,000 to 340,000 deaths and over 2 million injured. This number only grew during the brief nuclear escalation before the December Ceasefire. The exact number of deaths will never be known, due to the presence of unregistered residents such as homeless, illegal immigrants, political prisoners, or workers who entered the city, but the destruction of Pyongyang and the partial destruction of Multan is believed to have incurred anywhere between 1,500,000 to 2,100,000 deaths, with half as many wounded.

The rate of civilian casualties skyrocketed during the initial Fithp assault on the planet. While many orbital impactors merely hit power stations and railways, with casualties between 0 and 100 per target, the deliberate destruction of multiple damns proved lethal. The fall of the Three Gorges Dam alone is believed to have resulted in anywhere between 4 and 10 million deaths, with an additional 21 million displaced. Overall global deaths from the first Fithp strikes are estimated to be between 7 and 15 million, with an overall 30 million displaced.

Greater still, however, are the deaths from the human retaliatory strikes against Fithp-occupied regions in China and India. Like with Pyongyang and Multan, exact casualties cannot be determined. However, the deaths caused by Operation Yi are believed to range anywhere between 17 to 26 million, with an additional 4 million wounded and 11 million displaced. Roughly 13-20 million of these deaths are from the destruction of Mumbai'i and the nearby city of Pune, while the destruction of Chongqing is believed to have claimed between 4 to 6 million. Radiation sickness and various forms of cancer are expected to claim even more lives in the coming years.

Most devastating of all, however, are the civilian deaths from Footfall. Despite evacuation efforts by the United States and other affected nations that surpassed expectations, the sheer size of the impacted regions ensured that casualties would remain high. Of these nations, the United States was impacted the greatest, with an estimated 16-17 million deaths and an astonishing 72 million displaced. Likewise, Mexico suffered approximately 500,000 deaths, but with an additional 30 million displaced. Of the island nations impacted, Cuba was hit hardest, having lost 2-3 million, many of which died with the loss of Havana. In the Mediterranean, overall deaths came to 6-7 million, 5 million of which were in France. With a global death count of 31-32 million, it is for this reason that Footfall has been named the greatest single disaster to befall the human race, with January 26th as the bloodiest day in human history.

Overall, total human deaths during the war amount to between 77 million to 100 million, with an additional 17 million wounded and up to 300 million displaced. Combined with alien casualties, the war has claimed a sum total of anywhere between 117 to 140 million lives, making it the single deadliest conflict in history.

However, as more data comes in, and the lingering aftermath of the war continues in the form of ecological devastation and lack of access to food or medical aid, it is likely that this number will increase by next year's more refined report, and possibly even by a drastic margin.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Machado I**

 _It is a quiet day on the Amazon, save for the gentle paddling of the canoe I find myself sitting in. Across from me is Victoria Machado, world-renowned wildlife biologist and author of **Seeds of Hope: Ecological Restoration after World War Three**. She is an older woman, with silver hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and deep wrinkles cross her tanned face. Still, she proves a very energetic talker, gesticulating wildly as we move down the river, fithp interns providing the rowing._

 **Q: It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Machado.**

A: The pleasure's all mine. I greatly enjoyed your piece on the Great Barrier Reef Protection Act, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to have this interview. It's important that people understand what we do, and why we do it.

 **Q: Now then, let's begin at the very start. When did ecological preservation enter discourse in the build up to the war?**

A: Very soon, actually. I'd say it was about six months after the discovery of the fleets that I received the special commission, and I was just a junior biologist at the time. I was primarily tagging caimans and collecting data on ratios of male to female hatchings for green anacondas, and then suddenly... I and thousands of others were thrust into a race against time.

 **Q: Would you care to elaborate?**

A: Here's a way to put it. The governments _knew_ the importance of ecosystems, even during the pre-war ecological crises we were making. They usually just didn't _care_ , because the consequences would be long after they died, and the money they got from companies was very much in the now. The coming invasion changed that. We weren't looking at vague ramifications twenty, forty years from now, but _immediate_ devastation. For all we knew, the Serengeti could have been blasted to glass, or this very rainforest could have been burnt to ash. Crucial parts of the global ecosystem, the ecosystem we _need_ to survive as a species, could have been destroyed, whether by deliberate alien attack or just as a side-result of the fighting.

So, we needed to be as prepared as possible. We needed to gather seeds and sperm and eggs and all other sorts of genetic material. Not just from crop plants and pasture animals, but from wild species that we might need to reintroduce into the wild. And not only did we need to gather this genetic material, but we needed to understand the ecology as much as possible, to ensure we could restore it to the best of our abilities.

Problem was, our biosphere is big. Like, _really_ big. Do you know how many animal species we knew about back then?

 **Q: Er... a hundred thousand?**

A: One and a half million, which we knew even back then was far from all of them. We may have been wiping out quite a few each year, but that still left potentially millions more we needed to discover. That wasn't counting plant life, either. It was a daunting challenge, and I still remember how hopeless it felt when I first got the commission.

Thankfully, we still had six years to do it. And with all the money flooding into wartime preparations, there was plenty to spare for ensuring we had a functioning biosphere if we won. It was honestly amazing how much money could be spared for protecting the planet if we weren't spending it on making sex dolls and novelty keychains. There was money pouring in from civilian government programs, various militaries, philanthropists... I think the budget for the first year alone was in the neighborhood of a hundred billion dollars...

 **Q: What did you do in particular during that time?**

A: I was hired by the UN special commission. Most of my time was spent here, in the Amazon, though with dozens of other wildlife experts. We were like... ever play Pokemon? I felt like a Pokemon character, you know? Gotta catch em all. We were collecting eggs, seed pods, sperm, spores, and any other useful piece of genetic material that could be used for conservation. I was in charge of herps, as that was my specialty. I actually found six new species of tree frog and four species of Dactyloidae... I mean, anoles.

Everything we found was examined six ways to Sunday, cataloged, and sent off. Gene banks were cropping up all over the planet, made specifically for post-war conservation. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was expanded, and a few clones of it were sprinkled about the Arctic and Antarctic. Research labs began dedicating more money to figuring out a way of cloning organisms without need for a female, in case no specimens were left.

It was honestly astonishing, how much we did during that time. Still, there was a sense of deep worry. Worry that we would actually need to use all of these gene banks, worry that the aliens would destroy them or pervert them into something worse... and worry that what we did was not enough.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Nguyen I**

 _It is a sunny day in Abuja as I arrive at the University of the United West African Republics, regarded as one of the greatest institutions of learning on the entire continent. The crowd milling between classes is far more eclectic- local students; fithp, both naturalized citizens and from the nearby Nation; and even the occasional Race male._

 _Carlos Nguyen greets me in his classroom, where he gives lectures on meteorology. He offers some tea from his thermos as he sits down to a hasty lunch, which I politely decline._

 **Q: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Professor Nguyen. I understand you're a busy man.**

A: Not as busy as some of the other people you've spoken to, I imagine. Let's get to it.

 **Q: Now then. How well did the scientific community understand the potential ramifications of the planetary invasion?**

A: I would argue that we had a fair understanding, even if we were ignored quite a bit. Weather is an inherently chaotic system, one that we can never fully predict, but that doesn't mean we can't have a good grasp of the greater picture. There were papers on global warming and nuclear winter as far back as a half century before even the war began. There were inaccuracies in regard to the finer details, but not the overall concepts.

 **Q: How did that knowledge influence the pre-war preparations?**

A: Well, I'd argue it had a large impact on food production. Before the war, there was only about enough grain stored to feed the population for two months, and that was not distributed evenly. We were facing destruction of crops and other food sources, whether accidental or deliberate, on a scale unseen. I don't even work with agriculture and I still knew that.

So, that was why the rationing happened, and why many countries started focusing on more... efficient food production. I still remember my uncle's furor at having half of his ranch seized by the Mexican government and converted to bean production. I could have sworn reading somewhere that two thirds of all cattle were slaughtered during the lead up to the war.

But, I'm digressing. Yes, our findings had an impact on how we prepared for the war. We also had an impact on responses to the various disasters that befell us during those maddening months. Operation Yi, especially, was concerning.

 **Q: How so?**

A: Nuclear winter. Take all of those burning buildings, forests, _people_. Take all that ash and dust they create, and fling them high into the sky, carried aloft by the heat of the bombs and sunlight. At the altitudes they reached, it would take a _very_ long time for the dust to come back down. During that time, you're looking at vastly reduced sunlight, low precipitation, a weakened ozone layer... we'd developed an idea of it, via study of Mt. Tambora's eruption and the impact it had on the globe, as well as Martian dust storms.

A report in 2009 indicated that a regional conflict in the subtropics between two minor nuclear powers, which _totally_ weren't India and Pakistan by the way, could have drastic impacts on our climate with merely a hundred bombs equivalent to the one that destroyed Hiroshima. By drastic impacts, I mean an ozone layer so thin that you'd be burned in the time it takes to go from your car to the store, widespread crop failure, and possibly a billion dead over ten years from famine.

 _He pours some tea and sips it, slowly._

Mumbai'i and Chongqing were hit with at least ten times that tonnage. Eight teragrams of dust was kicked up into the troposphere, which would have hit the stratosphere in a month.

Ironically enough, Footfall actually saved us from the worst effects.

 **Q: How did an asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico mitigate a disaster half a world away?**

A: Footfall may have happened in the Gulf, but its impact was felt everywhere. Thank the Lord the rock hit the deepest part of the Gulf; the waves were worse, but if that impact had been in more shallow waters, or even on _land_... we would be going the way of the dinosaurs. Teragrams? Try _exagrams_ of dust and noxious gases if it hadn't hit the water. We were lucky it was mainly just water vapor that was released into the atmosphere. That unnatural precipitation helped pull down the dust from Operation Yi, which saved the ozone layer.

Still, that replaced one issue with a thousand more. Now, we had violent rainstorms in ecosystems that were not used to that kind of rain, heat blooms in normally frigid places, and the nightmare of what happened to the Gulf's currents. It was a meteorologist's nightmare. I mean, it was also a nightmare for everyone else, but we knew the specifics of what was fucking us, and how it was going to fuck us.

I knew that some people talked about how Earth was white from the clouds, but that's a bit misleading. The clouds from Footfall covered 99% of inhabited areas for a good eleven days, but the polar regions avoided the rain almost completely. Which was a godsend. If that hot, _hot_ rain fell on the ice caps, it wouldn't have been just Texas and Florida that went underwater. As it was, we still had to deal with considerable permafrost loss in places like Siberia, which was the cause of that major anthrax epidemic in 2026.

 **Q: You said that Footfall prevented a nuclear winter. Wasn't winter still harsh for years after?**

A: Oh, yes. I can picture the July frost in 2021 like it was yesterday. We may have avoided the long-term deep freeze, but the chaos of Footfall resulted in weather extremes of all sorts. Normal currents were disturbed, both oceanic and atmospheric, and the ecosystems that helped maintain a normal climate were also shaken up. We had harsher winters, drier summers, hurricane seasons on steroids, all things out of the Book of Revelations.

But. The ocean acidity had not been too drastically affected. The current disruption was temporary, and we still had an ozone layer to protect our plant life. Compared to even the Triassic extinction, we had gotten off lightly. What was more, but many industries that were harming the environment had been pushed back by the prewar preparations, or rendered obsolete in the aftermath.

That isn't to say it wasn't terrible. Lots of people who survived the war didn't make it to the end of 2021. But, it was, dare I say, a _good climate_ for rebuilding.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Muktitul-thith I**

 _A powerfully-built fi' despite her age, the mayor (more literally, citymistress) of Yimptunf greets me with curled trunks as I step into her office. Outside, the capital of the Fithp Nation in Brasil bristles with activity, hovercraft practically clogging the roads. As I sit down, I can even see an orbital airliner taking off in the distance._

 _Muktithul-thith is a reflection of the drastic changes in fithp culture. Garbed in a fithp-designed robe inspired by Yoruba iro, she nevertheless wears mascara around her eyes, as well as Indonesian jewelry about her trunks. Even her name is evocative of the changes- much as her husband took on her last syllable, she herself took on the last syllable of his name, regarded as a major win for xenogender activists._

 **Q: Good afternoon, Mrs. Mayor.**

A: Such a polite darling! I like you already. Now, what stories do you desire to hear? Everyone loves to talk about the war, it seems, but I just spent that cramped up in that metal can. Dreary stuff. Nothing to do but eat, talk, play in mud, and panic.

 **Q: I was actually hoping to ask you about the Reconstruction period.**

A: Now _that_ is some lovely discussion matter. Ask away, ask away.

 **Q: Now, you were part of the first wave of colonists, that is correct?**

A: Yes I was! I came down here back when this was just a patch of grassland, with nary a brick erected. Oh, how I remember that day... I was part of the fourth generation, you know. That day was the first time I had ever seen a _sky_ , and what a sky it was! Some of the others were terrified, absolutely terrified, sucking their trunks like infants as they saw that big blue expanse, but I was in love.

I didn't even mind those first few weeks, back when our new nation was just a bunch of prefabricated buildings. All we had to eat was rations, and it became crowded all to quickly as a quarter million of us became packed in, but as long as I could see that sky, I was happy.

 **Q: A quarter million of you were in _how large_ an area?**

A: Oh, about the size of this city, but we didn't have anything taller than one story, so it was quite packed. Thankfully, I suppose years of being cramped up in Message Bearer gave us quite a manic fervor. I suppose being huge and freakishly strong compared to the other four species on the planet helped in that regard. _Laughs_. We were like workhorses and carpenters rolled into one. I remember how my father looked, wearing hastily made coveralls and a hardhat far too small for his head, plowing fields by day and hammering together our house by night. It is still a hilarious sight to me.

By the end of the first month, the first permanent buildings had already been built. Many of us were still living in prefabs, but those prefabs now had a small hospital, mainly just to treat work-related injuries, and a school as well. Herdmistress Joshi hand-picked the teachers. I suppose she was afraid of someone slipping in biased material to indoctrinate us or whatever.

 **Q: What sort of materials did you study?**

A: At first, the basics, for us children _and_ the adults. We were in a new world, and we needed to catch up. We were _all_ taught our writing system, instead of just loremasters and the crew, and we learned how to operate the human and Race built equipment we were using to build our new homes. There were many hasty modifications made to let us use them. I doubt Caterpillar had 800 pound quadrupeds in mind when they designed bulldozers.

The digit ships were still coming down, but no longer were they carrying more fithp. Instead, UN aid workers and the occasional Race males were pouring out, armed with shovels and wrenches and medical kits. They set up a lab to help develop any vaccines or other medications we'd need, since our own medical knowledge was laughable at best, and they helped us with more niche-y fields.

 **Q: Niche-y fields?**

A: Well, all native life from Hearth was kept in Message Bearer, for one, so we had to figure out what Earth-based crops were safe to eat. Much of that was figured out from seeing what sort of crap Harpanet vacuumed up while in American custody. I still blame him for the amount of watermelon we ate during that first year. We had to figure out our place in the local ecology, before we could set about to settling into it.

Still, I think we learned quick. We had come to a lush world, a paradise to what we left behind. We had been given a Garden, and it was our duty to maintain it, make it grow lively. Us children poured over the textbooks we had been given, about agriculture and ecology and green living, while our parents worked to make it happen. It wasn't a casual interest like in other nations; it was a foundation of our new identity.

Another foundation, I might say, was filling that garden.

 **Q: With?**

 _She waggles her trunks. A suggestive gesture._

A: Babies.

There were a little less than a million of us on Earth, and though we only had suspicions at the time, less than a million of us period. There were more followers of Jediism than there were fithp. We were in a world we had hurt, and so was hostile to us. I can recall the terror of that time, of realizing our vulnerability. If that sicko Lizbeth and her friends had gotten her way, a full third of our species could've been snuffed out with just a handful of trucks.

And so, we needed to breed, and swell our numbers. I was an only child when I came to Earth, and then I got a baby sister, then a baby brother, then another baby sister... I certainly, uh, _did_ my part as well, when I entered musth. I believe some political cartoonist in that time joked that we should have been space rabbits, not elephants.

I don't suppose rabbits are all too fitting. Rabbits die easily. I should know; I accidentally stepped on one, once. Fingthtup still rubs that into my face. But us? With the advanced medical care coming our way, we essentially had the infant mortality rate of a first world nation, and the birth rate of a third. By the time of our 2025 census, there were two million of us on Earth. And that number was only going to get bigger.

 _She glances out the window._

How does that old saying go? Be fruitful and multiply. Well, we had a garden, and we were indeed fruitful. But we weren't governing the earth anytime soon, and we were constantly reminded of that.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Dkolo II, Gorrpet II**

 _The parlor begins to become livelier as more troopmales come in for ginger and relaxation after a long work shift. Many are technicians and factory workers, likely from Cairo Spaceport or local power plants. Dkolo briefly leaves the interview to take in some orders, then returns as his kitchen staff starts preparing a menagerie of ginger-laden meals, from pumpkin pie to spice cake, all served with Tau Ceti Slammers or ginger ale. Gorrpet stays at the table, keen on having his own story told._

 **Q: You have quite a successful venture here, Dkolo. When did you enter the ginger trade?**

A (Dkolo): During the month or so that the Manhattan Conferences were going on. After the Americans kicked us out of their territory, I was sent to do reconstruction work here in Darfur as part of the Fleetlord's plan to win brownie points among the new world powers. This place was rife with the spice, and it was easy to get into the trade. Funny enough, you'd think that the Rabotevs and Hallessi would be all over that business, since they couldn't get high on their own supply, but the intelligence officers and guards had both turrets on those guys because of how easy it would be for them to deal ginger.

A (Gorrpet): Oh, definitely. I went through three dealers because of that.

 **Q: Wouldn't human dealers be more commonplace at the very least?**

A: At first, it was. Had a lot of stiff competition. But then, I started getting... unofficial support.

 **Q: Unofficial support?**

A (Dkolo): You see, I suppose the higher ups, or at least the Fleetlord, realized that the ginger trade was never going to stop. Too many of us _needed_ the spice to keep on going, after everything we'd seen, everyone we'd _lost_. And compared to some of the drugs Tosevites use, it's mild, even if the withdrawal is horrific.

 _Gestures to some of the humans in the bar, smoking marijuana or eating edibles._

It's a way to unwind. And biting raw root, some scientists claim, can help with PTSD thanks to its mild hallucinogenic properties. Don't know if that's true, but I do know it's profitable.

A (Gorrpet): I, for one, can confirm.

A (Dkolo): So, what are you going to do? Can't stop the river, but you can change the course. If there were going to be ginger dealers, they were going to be _Race_ dealers.

 **Q: Why was that?**

A (Dkolo): Power, of the kind your France of the Bacon discusses. Lips aching for the taste of ginger, I find, are loose lips. Take a male going through bad withdrawal, and give him a human dealer, and you'd be surprised at the secrets he'd be willing to spill just for a taste. If you want to control the flow of information, you gotta control the flow of spice.

And so, a vast number of ginger dealers apprehended by our security were, suspiciously enough, not Race. We help them apprehend the human dealers, and in turn they leave us alone, and so the leaks stop.

By the end of the first two years after the war, me and three other males were controlling virtually all of the spice in this region.

 **Q: Is that why you stayed in Darfur?**

A (Gorrpet): Eh. He probably could've moved shop easy.

A (Dkolo): It's not the only reason. I actually like it here. Darfur is the only place outside of a Free Zone, in my opinion, where we can walk around and feel comfortable. _Truly_ safe. Where we can mingle with people without problem.

A (Gorrpet): Some places come close, I think. But I still get dirty looks sometimes, a few slurs, when I'm in Melbourne or Riyadh.

A (Dkolo): Did you know that Darfur is the only not-empire that is willing to offer citizenship to Race males, instead of green cards or work visas?

 **Q: Perhaps I was aware.**

A (Dkolo): Like I said, brownie points. I must've helped build a hundred bridges and half as many other structures over these past two decades, but it's hardly recompense for what we did. Helping bury the dead doesn't make up for the fact that they're dead because of you. It just keeps us from joining them in the grave.

But here? We stopped a genocide, we pulled them up, and now they're their own prospering nation. None of those things would've happened if it weren't for us. That brownie points program was basically shit polishing in places like America. That whole schtick about saving you from yourselves was shit.

But in this place? Here? Well... I think we actually accomplished something, here. And they recognize that. It's places like these that show there's a chance for peace, if you ask me. Not Manhattan. Not the rebuilding. But here.

A (Gorrpet): _Laps ginger._ Woah.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Perkins III**

 _Perkins pauses briefly to pull up some images on his holophone. They are clearly from his youth; aside from being two-dimensional images, I can see a familiar pair of eyes looking back at me, from a youthful face._

 **Q: These were taken in Kentucky, I presume?**

A: Nah, my mother and I were pulled out of Kentucky when the Race started moving up along the Mississippi. I spent about a month in Cincinnati. Well, the camps they set up around Cincinnati, anyway. Some folk were lucky enough to have family in the city who had spare rooms, and some got to live in the empty houses, but most of us had to make do with tents and prefabs.

 **Q: I presume you lived in a tent?**

A: Yep. I had to share a tent about, I dunno, maybe twenty five square meters, with two other families. Goldfarbs and Estevez. Mrs. Goldfarb didn't like me much, but her two boys and I used to play Smash Bros when we had electricity. There weren't that many friendly faces back then- the soldiers who made sure we got our rations and were in charge of security were polite enough, but they scared me shitless for some reason, and quite a few trashy folk were _not_ happy to share a refugee camp with us darkies.

But yeah, it was good to have friends in that place. It sucked when they were moved out.

 **Q: Moved out?**

A: Yeah, during Reconstruction. That was all the talk back then, about how were were gonna rebuild the country, make it better. Of course, to a kid like me, it just sounded like talk. My hometown didn't exist anymore. _Mississippi_ didn't exist any more- all of us were scattered to the wind like fucking leaves, to Seattle and St. Louis and New York and every small town in between.

There were a good seventy million people like me and my mom. America had more refugees than Germany had, well, Germans. Yeah, we were making rations and shelters for six years like the American industry was on crack, which it probably was in places, but _seventy million people_. Fuck. We had the harshest winter on record coming in, it was still raining buckets half the week, and you had all of these people crowded up in small tents or bomb shelters. We couldn't just stay in those camps, eating MREs and shitting in trenches, less we wanted to lose another few million in the frost.

It was why the government was making such a huge deal about rebuilding the country, acting like it was the only thing that mattered, which it kinda was. Every radio, every TV, everything was blaring that shit. Lots of dreams were ruined that way. Oh, you wanted to be a software designer? Fuck you, build houses. You were majoring in English before the war? Fuck you, build houses.

 _He snorts, then shakes his head._

I don't wanna even imagine how expensive it was to start Reconstruction, even if Canada and Brazil were sending us workers and food.. Every day it seemed, people were getting moved in and out. You got people being sent to any city, any town, with extra room. Some of us were sent to Canada, even, or Alaska.

Then you got the people that were being 'recruited' to rebuild the states that got flattened by Footfall.

 **Q: You mean impressed under martial law.**

A: No one wanted to think of it like that. They just called it doing their part, or whatever. I mean, we needed _someone_ to clear the rubble, plant new forests, build new houses, all that shit, and it beat just sitting with your thumb in your butt. That's how my mom and I ended up in St. Louis; she got a job as a truck driver, delivering supplies to the soldiers and construction workers in my old state. I missed her a lot during those long hours, but at least I had a hot shower and something that wasn't jerky to eat.

And it was definitely better than staying in the camp with those hateful folk.

 **Q: You mentioned racial tensions before. Was it really that bad?**

 _Perkins looks at me, then just shakes his head, snickering._

A: Oh, _yeaaaah_. I remember how everyone was talking about it in the news, when they weren't talking about aliens or Reconstruction. Lots of people from nicer places, or just under rocks, were acting all shocked at the shit they were seeing. Acting like the hate crimes and rapes were just some regression, some new wave of problems.

Truth is, they were just used to having all that crap at the bottom of the pot, and now the Foot stirred it all up. All those glares, all those slurs, all that nasty business that used to go below the radar, was now suddenly being flung into the light. Instead of being limited to just Alabama, you now had sundown counties threatening to crop up in Hipsterville, Oregon; or right outside San Francisco.

People weren't getting more racist. If anything, all that mixing was why it died down. People were just realizing that they were racist. Hard to ignore the shit when its on your doorstep and not in another state. So, they either had to ignore it, or you had to clean it up.

And well, now this hate was out of its den, and in enemy territory. When you had aliens to hate and fear, people are less willing to put up with Uncle Jim's shit.

 **Q: Would you say that the racism merely shifted to aliens, then?**

A: Not exactly. It did for a lot of older folk. And there's definitely a bunch of obnoxious fuckboys on the internet talking about burning Home to glass, when they can't even get prom dates. But for me, and others like me? No. No Race male has ever called me nigger. No fi' has ever clutched her purse when I walk by her. They killed a lot of us, yeah, but it felt so dispassionate. It almost felt like losing a loved one to a disaster, instead of some murderer.

We cheered when Straha dangled, true, but then we just wanted to get on with our lives. It's hard to think about killing aliens when you got so many problems to worry about. I heard it was the same for Poles in WWII. I dunno if it's true, but I wouldn't be surprised. After experiencing so much hate and pain, a lot of us just wanted to be rid of it all. Break the wheel, not spin it, like that dragon princess my mom loved to watch on TV said.

 _He leans back, looking skyward._

I don't think the hate transferred. I think, after all the pain, it just... dissipated, like it was too tired to continue.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Jeong III**

 _Putting aside the old schoolbooks for the time being, Jeong pulls out more photographs, this time of both human and Race design. I see more images of Jeong and his parents, this time with slightly fatter faces and different clothing. The cityscape of Wuhan has changed considerably from before, with many of the older buildings in the process of being demolished or renovated._

 **Q: It must have been strange during the early days of Korean Reunification.**

A: Oh, there are many words for it. Strange, elating, terrifying... perhaps electrifying is the best. Regardless of whether it brings you pain, or pleasure, or an odd mixture of both, it is certainly something, and it is omnipresent. We had already felt it in the Race occupation, and now it came in full force with reunification.

 **Q: After the surrender, what immediate changes came?**

A: Well, for one thing, there were now Southern soldiers at every street corner, instead of Race troopmales. As per the Manhattan Conferences, the Chinese had pulled out on the condition that reunification be entirely a Korean matter. No Americans, no Chinese, and none of their respective corporations.

Actually, let me go back to that. The fact that we were allowed to listen in and watch the news about the Manhattan Conferences was astonishing enough. No censorship, no filtering, no lies. The invasion had shattered the regime's grasp on us, but now the Conferences allowed us our first _real_ look at the outside world. Not imperialist invaders and capitalist demons, but as people. Even those who didn't believe the old propaganda were still uninformed about the outside world, and now we all knew.

 **Q: I imagine it must have been quite the culture shock.**

A: You imagine, but you don't _know_. People were already reeling from the deaths of the Kims and our occupation. Whether it be joy, anger, fear, of just a sense of suddenly having your world turned upside down. Even if it didn't like it, it had been our world. Then now, we are finally reunited with our brothers across the 38th, our brothers that are simultaneously dreaded enemies and hopeful future companions.

Family, in fact, was important to ensuring we survived the coming changes. That was one of the first changes. Not a flood of movies and manhwa and music, but of grandparents and cousins and siblings, no longer separated by controlling madmen. Some Southerners went North to reunite, and some Northerners went South, though they were far fewer.

 _He produces one photo, of himself and his parents with another Korean family._

See them? That older man is my father's older brother, who had gone South with my grandfather, while my grandmother was trapped in the North. Those teens are my cousins. I didn't even know I had cousins in the South. They left behind what they had in Seoul to come up here and live with us, even though this place was far worse in comparison to their nice little home.

That, in retrospect, helped dampen so many of the changes that came after. I wasn't thrust into the glossy world of smartphones and global pop culture, but slowly shown it through my extended family. My cousins showed me some of their favorite movies and soap operas. I would sit on the couch between them, munching on whatever snacks they had brought from the outside world, and be introduced to Southern entertainment. When I asked questions, they were kind enough to answer.

Of course, they weren't just up North for reunions. Many of them had come to help us rebuild, or just to adjust in time for the influx of workers who didn't have close ties. My parents got jobs in that department, helping install cell phone towers. Even a few of our former Race occupiers were there to help remake the North into a proper reflection of her Southern sibling.

 **Q: When was your first visit to the South?**

A: It was after that first harsh winter of the war. The world was finally breathing again, and I supposed that meant a return of festivities and the like. No more blackouts, no more bans on producing 'non-vital products'. My family did a big trip to Seoul for Chuseok.

I'll never forget that first trip. The sight of the towering glass buildings, glittering in the light. Of the shops stuffed with more types of food than I knew existed. Of the beautiful decorations and colorful people. I couldn't take my eyes off of it all.

Certainly, there were still hiccups. I remember a night when I was about eleven, and saw a man wandering the streets of Wuhan, muttering to himself before the police gently took him away. He was a Northerner, you see, but he didn't take to the changes. Even with the gradual changes the South was trying to bring, it was all too much for him, drowning him in an overwhelming tide of credit cards and K-Pop and blockbuster films, and he'd had a nervous breakdown. Many of us had that. My mother nearly broke down herself, after our Chuseok trip.

 **Q: Would you still say that the overall changes were positive?**

A: Oh, yes. Breakdowns were plentiful, but many people recovered, and most did not break down at all. By the time I was in high school, I saw many Northerners chatting on smartphones, driving minis, and wearing Southern clothing. You should see my mother now. The only way to tell her and her friends apart from the gaggle of old ladies in the South is the accent, and the fact they're a good three inches shorter than average.

Was it perfect? No, nothing can be perfect. We were a popular source of frustration with the South's economic woes, considering just how much poorer we were in comparison. And I was just old enough to understand when the gravity of sexual misconduct in the North was fully uncovered.

But in the end, we were _happier_. We Koreans may not have a perfect society, but it is _ours_. Not North. Not South. Just _Korea_.

After so many years of division, there is unity. And that... that is the greatest thing in the world to have.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wang V**

 _Wáng's face becomes more weary, expectant, as the interview continues._

A: I expect you will be asking me of my legacy soon enough. I do not blame you for that burning curiosity, but the magnifying glass becomes wearisome after a while. I must admit, it has been... good, to talk about the times before. Of my youth and life.

 **Q: You were involved in rebuilding in your home province of Chongqing, were you not?**

 _A look of surprise crosses his face, then a small smile pulls at his lips._

A: Indeed, I was. There were millions of sick and wounded in my country after the war. Soldiers. Civilians. Those who'd been injured during the orbital strikes from debris, or burned by Operation Yi, just as I was. The displaced needed treatment as well, you see, for radiation poisoning or the various outbreaks of influenza and other illnesses.

This was the jurisdiction of the Disaster Response Corps, but I was Army. And what was the Army keen on doing? Holding on to the territory we'd liberated from the Race, until the Conference was over and the new governments were established. What was it, I believe? Half of Kazakhstan, and a few other of those old Central Asian nations. The Russians had been keen on claiming they had liberated those places as well, but it was... fuzzy.

And so, I managed to get a transfer to the Corps, and spent my time bandaging burns on children and handing out flu vaccines, while my fellow soldiers were patrolling frigid mountain villages just so the Russians wouldn't be doing the same. Silly thing. We had fought side by side against the true enemy, from Chéngdū to Kabul, and now we were acting like poor neighbors. It is a good thing it was resolved quickly enough.

 _He pauses briefly, lip twisted as he considers it._

Then again, I suppose it is also good they did not come back immediately.

 **Q: How so?**

A: Despite the Politburo claiming they had already restored internet in half the country by the time of Footfall... well, they did not. I do not know why. Perhaps they were preoccupied with vital structures, or perhaps they had been hoping to replace the internet with their own version, as some had speculated.

Either way, I noticed as I traveled from town to town, then eventually province to province, that many of the new servers were not being put in by the Politburo, but independently. There was too much red tape, too many other issues to tackle, that dissenting voices were finally being heard. When I went on the internet, there was no need for a VPN; the Politburo had lost its chokehold on the web in these places.

The war did not just break the Three Gorges Dam. It broke the Great Firewall as well, and now there was a flood.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Hu II**

 _Hù pulls down her shirt slightly, allowing me to see a faded scar on her shoulder._

A: I didn't get this in clean-up work, I'll tell you that.

 **Q: Was that from a protester or a soldier?**

A: Neither. Paid thugs, meant to disperse crowds when the army and police couldn't, or _wouldn't._ Nánjīng was one of those places. A few of them tried to have, well, _fun_ with me, and I shot one as soon as he tried to grab me. They ran, but not before one shot at me as he was fleeing. That's the thing about shitbags in Zhōngguó, whether they're thugs or bullies- they always gang up on one person. They're terrified of the victim fighting back, and that's what I did.

 **Q: You were in Nánjīng, after recuperating in Xiânggâng?**

A: Rest is for the dead. As soon as I was cleared, I was sent back to helping with rebuilding in Jiangsu. Even by the end of the war, there were still a good few hundred bridges that hadn't been rebuilt yet, and that isn't even getting into the highways and everything else. Just about all rebuilding after Yi was focused around _military_ logistics, with only the immediate refugee issues being handled by people like yours truly. Helped with Operation Earth, but it meant that the civilian populace had been basically split into a thousand and one smaller nations.

Pre-war, it took, like, seven hours to get from Bêijīng to Jînán. After the fithp bombardment, you'd be lucky to make it in three _days_. Civilian flights across the country? Grounded, so the Corps and the Army could clog the airways with supply choppers and transports. People were bottled up with hardly a way to call their family or friends, they were cold, they were on rations, and there was no _Happy Camp_ on TV. And what was more, the Army was all holed up along the Korean border and Central Asia, processing Race prisoners and making sure nothing happened at the northern border while Russia was having its own problems.

 _She claps her hands once, admittedly startling me._

Perfect pressure cooker. You had protests in Nánjīng, protests in Beijing, protests in fucking Ürümqi for all I know.

 **Q: What were the goals of the protests?**

A: At first? A million things, because these people hardly knew there were other protests going on. I saw people just demanding that their roads get fixed, people calling for a purge of our Race prisoners, people calling for the end of the Party... a thousand and one little nations made a thousand and one little points. It was only when people started putting up uncensored internet that they really started coordinating.

A thousand and one fires, and the Politburo couldn't put all of them out.

 **Q: The Army was still numbering at a good eighteen million, was it not? I am surprised they weren't used to quell the riots.**

 _Hù snorts._

A: A lot of servicemen started getting in on the protesting, too. Millions of conscripts meant millions of sons worried about accidentally killing their mothers, millions of fathers worried about killing their sons or daughters. There were officer revolts, people refusing to move from their stations... that's how I got involved in the protests. We were operating at a dismal rate, because we just didn't have enough equipment, equipment the Army could have given us if the Politburo wasn't worried about the border.

Before I knew it, my commanding officer had us make signs about it and stand in front of the protesters, staring at the police or guards. Even if we weren't Army, the sight of our uniforms had an effect on them. _Hesitation._ One thing to shoot some random civilian. Another to shoot the people who were rebuilding our nation.

This wasn't Tiān'ānmén. This was the February Revolution. The leash was cut, the muzzle had been ripped off, and we were _pissed_. Decades of shit was freely pouring all over the Party, unafraid of being taken away in the night by the police or getting shot by the Army. I have to say, it was an odd feeling, suddenly having that fear ripped away. Old farts loved to talk about héxié, harmony and peace and all that pacifying garbage. But in that moment, we were all just thinking:

"Chóngqìng's radioactive, Shànghâi's a wreck, and there's still corpses in the Yángzî. _Fuck_ héxié."

Wasn't easy, of course. They were trying hard to ensure we stayed quiet. Assassination attempts, thugs... there was that poor girl, Luàn Doū, and the shit they broadcast being done to her... but it was just galvanizing us. It reminded us that the Party never really fucking _cared_ about us, and now they couldn't fool the people.

And at the same time, Xīzàng and Xīnjiāng were trying to pull free again, which meant that the Army would have to split up if they wanted to pacify the nation. The rest of the world was watching, judging, maybe even helping us a little.

 **Q: Do you believe that they really pushed the protests?**

A: In truth? No. I entertain the possibility, but I don't believe it. This was our fucking fight, not theirs.

That sense of it being our fight, that unity, it was what lead to that big realization. That while the Party needed the people to rebuild, the people didn't need the Party. And they realized that truth, too.

 **Q: Is that why the CCP enabled all of those reforms?**

A: They knew at that point that they'd never win, and if they lost hard, they were screwed. At the very least, by capitulating like that, a few of them could still influence policy. A defanged and emasculated Party was still better than no Party.

 **Q: I imagine it was quite an elating time for the nation.**

A: For others, maybe. But for me, it just meant that I could get back to work... that we could _all_ get back to work... and have a home worth rebuilding.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Rasmussen I**

 _Despite pushing ninety years old, Niels Rasmussen still teaches classes at the University of Copenhagen, where he discusses European economics and history. My first impression of him is of a portly, hunched-over man sitting on a bench facing the beach, wearing heavy winter clothes in autumn weather. He smiles as I approach, stretching the deep wrinkles of his face._

 **Q: Good afternoon, Dr. Rasmussen.**

A: And a good afternoon to you as well. Now let's get started; I have a class in three hours, and it's pudding night at the dining hall.

 **Q: Very well. Now, Dr. Rasmussen, you were already a well-respected economist before the war, were you not?**

A: Yes indeed. I was already past retirement age when I was recruited as part of an EU-commissioned think tank, but they still let me on. They didn't quite want me for the pre-war economic planning of the time, mind you. Deciding what industries would die first to fuel our global war machine, and how they would die, and how to maintain or even strengthen the world's economy during that time... that was a different think tank entirely.

No, mine was doing the opposite. How to bring these nations, militarized to an extent never before seen, back into a civilian economy, while also rebuilding from a war that, for all we knew, could have killed billions or forever made certain regions unviable for trade. I had quite a bit of expertise in that regard, considering that my main area of study was the rebuilding and economic shifts of the _previous_ world war.

 **Q: But the War for Earth was decidedly different from World War II. There must have been unique challenges.**

 _Rasmussen lets out wheezing laugh._

A: You don't need to tell me that. It was my job to figure all of those out. World War II didn't have aliens or asteroid impacts. But, in a more serious note, one major obstacle was the loss of American industry. Oh, they still had plenty of factories, and were actually still above pre-war levels, but...

 _He shakes his head._

All of that would be dedicated to rebuilding their own country. In the last war, rebuilding Europe had been an essentially American endeavor, and now we could not rely on them for a penny. And we could not rely that well on other major economies. China's biggest trading city had been given quite a chewing, and India's was simply gone, may Mumbai be remembered. And Russia... I don't want to even get into the mess that was immediate post-war Russia.

That wasn't even getting into the actual damages. It is quite an interesting case, I must admit. The Second World War had led to almost every major city in Europe becoming a bombed out wreck, but that didn't happen here. The Race did not carry out long distance bomber raids, not even hitting Paris if I recall correctly. I don't know why, but I'm sure you could ask a military man that.

On the other hand, the places that _were_ hit did not simply become damaged- they were _obliterated_. Barcelona, Marseilles, Algiers... scarcely a brick left of them. Some important things were recovered in those massive salvage runs, as though we were desperately reaching for any lingering scraps of memory. But we didn't get everything.

 _A single sigh._

And unlike the other war, we had climate issues. The Nazis killed a lot of people, but they didn't plunge us into ecological catastrophe. We had to contend with widespread crop failures, flooding, heat waves, and many other issues. It was enough to make anyone smart enough to understand the impact go cucumber.

 **Q: With those issues in mind, what plans were decided for rebuilding?**

A: The Mutual Reconstruction Aid Resolution. If Europe could not rely on China, or America, or even Russia, then Europe must rely on Europe. We essentially suggested laws that streamlined working abroad and encouraged mutual aid between our nations while we rebuilt. Less rigid taxing if the remaining European companies did business with other European companies, offers of land at vastly cheaper rates in the rebuilt territory to migrant workers, and education benefits for all.

At the same time, a lot of propaganda was made in that vein, an idea taken from the Americans. Rebuilding wasn't just work; it was _patriotism_ , it was an honor for the human race. We also tried to ensure that we wouldn't be stuck in an economic rut in the future, by encouraging them to 'Rebuild so your children don't have to'. That was the quote of the day back then. Build houses and new roads _now_ , so your children could become artists and scientists and all those other non-survival jobs. You wouldn't believe how much easier it is to galvanize the public when you have an actual nonhuman enemy to serve as a scapegoat for everything.

Though it was especially awkward, considering that we were also enlisting the Race's help.

 **Q: How involved were the Race and Fithp?**

A: The Race provided material and transportation, but not manpower. People didn't want to see their faces after what they did in France, but those starships were _astonishingly_ helpful when it came to bypassing dozens of kilometers of broken roads or muddy fields. We could drop off literally tens of thousands of workers just about anywhere, with all the material, prefabs, and machines needed to rebuild, in an _hour_. And there was also the advantage of their hydrogen fuel cells... the economic impacts of being able to use the most common element in the universe to fuel our cars gave me the biggest of headaches.

Fithp contributions were more subtle. We were rebuilding our nations, but they had to _make_ their own, and they were involved in a multitude of projects in the Southern Hemisphere. What they did came a bit later, in less upfront ways. Hovercraft to deal with the less car-friendly places. A higher degree of automation with large-scale moving equipment. So on, so on.

They were immensely helpful. They made the mess in the first place, but we wouldn't have been able to fix it so quickly without them. They allowed us to end our initial rebuilding plans a full two years ahead of schedule, in 2024. By then, we had major nascent economies in Africa and Southeast Asia to trade with, the worst of the climate issues were over, and America was also beginning to emerge from its slump.

Still, there was no going back. We may have shaved the goat, but now it was on the ice.

 **Q: Er... are you talking about the migrant issues?**

A: No need to walk the cat around the porridge. Think about how many people lived in the war-affected areas, how many had been evacuated in a frenzy in those mad days before the waves came. By the time the war ended, there were two million French living in Britain and three million in Germany, and there were a million Spaniards living in France. Many of them didn't have homes to go back too, and by the time their home regions had been rebuilt, they had found new lives.

And that isn't getting into workers from other less damaged nations, coming in droves. Italians in Spain, Poles in France, even Ukrainians in Germany. There had to be millions, all around, and in addition to refugees from Race conquests in Africa and the Middle East... one big mix, and not everyone was happy. But, in the face of that open sky, they had to bite the sour apple, and help us rebuild.

Personally, I think those half-dozen mini diasporas were a good thing. After seeing what a truly homogenous culture looks like, I think it just lends credence to the belief that diversity is our strength.

 _He smiles, and waggles his eyebrows._

And the fact that my house is now sandwiched between a French bakery and a Spanish restaurant has nothing to do with that.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Fistarteh-thuktun II**

 _Despite the Race male's insistence that he leave, Fistarteh-thuktun makes himself at home in Ttomalss's office, sipping from his coffee pot._

 **Q: Loremaster, you describe the Race's efforts as neocolonialism? Would you describe fithp reconstruction efforts in a different light?**

A: Yes, I would. It was not us who had conquered much of Africa and the Middle East. We were scarcely an occupying force, and when the time for rebuilding came, we did not try to prop up governments that would benefit us in those regions. Instead, we moved to the regions we had not conquered and helped rebuild there. Brazil. Vietnam. Honduras. Our digit ships must have moved millions of workers during those first five years of rebuilding.

During that time, I was enlisted to lead the team of scientists that would begin to decode the _thuktun_ in its entirety. Instead of a handful of assistants, I was working with hundreds of linguists, biologists, and engineers. The greatest minds in humanity, eager to learn all we had known, and _more_.

 **Q: I imagine the thuktunthp must have still been difficult to decode.**

A: Indeed. Even considering its astonishing size and the small scale of the etchings and diagrams, there should have not been enough information available for what we built. There were markings that indicated concepts from pre-existing _thuktunthp_ , of which there were hundreds. To understand the thuktun, you needed to understand all of its predecessors as well. We had barely scratched the surface of the thuktun we brought with us when the war began, and yet it had given us a key to the stars.

A (Ttomalss): A very ineffective one when compared to Race engines, I might add.

A (Fistarteh): Pray tell, how many of those engines were cracked apart by _Message Bearer_?

A (Ttomalss): Oh, a joke about your initial attack, one of the bloodiest days in history. How _original_.

 **Q: Er, I believe I was going to ask about the thuktun?**

 _Ttomalss glares at Fistarteh-thuktun, then resumes reading emails. The old fi' turns back to me._

A: Apologies, fellow loremaster. Yes, there were many scientists and the like attached to the project. It was agreed to be an international commission, between the signatory states of the World Armistice and related treaties. We would all study it, and in turn we would all benefit from its secrets. In addition, our pre-existing technology, from hovercraft to fusion reactors, were being studied in laboratories all around the world.

A (Ttomalss): It was hardly equal opportunity. We of the Race were explicitly forbidden from accessing research or technology that they deemed 'problematic', even if it had more uses than military. They were blatantly biting their non-existent tails at us by withholding ftaskelkwank, for just one example of many.

A (Fistarteh-thuktun): The last time one of your species studied the stone, tens of millions perished.

A (Ttomalss): And just _who_ let him study it?

 _The old fi' suddenly falls silent, trunks curled in consternation. Ttomalss clicks his fingerclaws together, looking suddenly uncomfortable._

A (Fistarteh-thuktun): The past cannot be changed. The dead cannot rise. Too many of us, from all sides, perished at each others' hands. Wallowing in remorse changes nothing, but atonement can. And the way to atone is to repair the world we have broken, and ensure a better future.

 _He sips his coffee, eyes looking elsewhere._

That is what I have been doing for twenty years.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi IX**

 _Folding back up her copy of the World Armistice, Joshi turns back to me._

A: It was unbelievably hard, you know.

 **Q: Being a leader of the Earth Fithp?**

A: No, meeting Chris's parents. _Of course_ I'm talking about the Fithp Nation. I never even led group projects in school, and now I was leading a nation one million strong, hated by much of the world, and distinctly nonhuman. Their very biology and psychology confounded things. Can't just ban drugs like LSD when the stuff doesn't affect them, while even a day or two of putting a fi' in a single-person cell is banned by the Geneva Conventions.

Writing a proper constitution was a nightmare. I had to figure out a stable system of governance for a people that were socially still very much in the Neolithic era, while catering to their psychological needs. It was not something I could have done on my own.

 **Q: Who helped the most considerably?**

A: Chris knew quite a bit about the US Constitution, considering that he had the preamble tattooed on his back. A two hundred and fifty year old document with only a few amendments is quite resilient, and it had been an inspiration for nations across the world; why not one more? Freedom of press, speech, religion, and assembly were all at the forefront. Total egalitarianism as well; as long as they were of age, which we made 16 due to their quicker maturation, they could vote.

Now, _getting_ them to vote was another thing. The fithp never voted before they came here. It was an... well, it was _alien_ to them. It didn't help that I wasn't an elected official; quite a few thought voting was just a way to show how content they were with events.

Fistarteh-thuktun turned out to be very helpful, actually. He was much quicker to grasp political concepts; I suppose his job favored that kind of thinking. We combed the Herd for young fithp with a knack for art, and had them set to making... well, I'm not sure if propaganda is the right term. Informative artwork is better, perhaps. Posters written in thuktush, drawn in nascent fithp style, meant to inform the Herd of just what voting is, what rights they had, and so on. I even starred in a cringy video meant to demonstrate the voting process. Fistarteh-thuktun helped relate human concepts of government to their concepts all the way through. Without him, I'm sure it would have been much more difficult.

 **Q: How long did the constitution take to write?**

A: Four months. Countless contributions, from old constitutions and new thinkers. Human rights, with a pinch of Race egalitarianism, fithp ideals of social structures, and so on. It was essentially a Frankenstein's Monster.

Still, it was good enough. My people now had a foundation for their laws, a foundation for the _nation_. By the time I wrote it, they had already made their first three cities. Simple things at the time, but better than quite a few human cities. That was an advantage of building a nation from scratch; no problems with historic infrastructure, both physical and legal, clogging things up.

Of course, that's just _building_ a nation. Growing it, and running it? That's something else entirely.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Vesstil I**

 _My next interviewee is quite difficult to plan an appointment with, due to his incredibly busy schedule. Eventually, we agree to have me sit in a seat normally reserved for observers as he flies from Buenos Aires to Amadioha-1, the main orbital station of the United West African Republics. Even as someone who has flown in space before, it is an uncomfortable experience, sitting in the undersized cockpit of a Race shuttle._

 _Vesstil is, for lack of a better word, quite chatty for a Race male. Between constant updates and replies with ground control and Amadioha-1, he speaks in a rapid-fire manner that seems to go all over the place._

 **Q: Now then, as a shuttle pilot, you were involved in the Joint Spaceflight Initiative, is that correct?**

A: Yep, yep. Back then, humans had us beat in lots of places, even in space combat, but they were rookies when it came to the void. _Rookies_. They were acting all proud of landing two dudes on that oversized Moon-

 _For effect, he points at Luna, barely visible as a thin crescent in the right corner of the cockpit window._

-while _we_ were crossing light-years regularly for longer than their civilization has existed. Some of you guys still remember a time where all you had were planes, and isn't that some addled tsiongi pellets? From there to, well, _here_? Crazy fast. Scary fast. But, still, if they wanted to get past cislunar space anytime soon, they had to ask us and the fithp how to rocket.

Of course, wasn't like we could say _no_ , you know? They were already picking apart captured starships and shuttles, sucking up our knowledge in that freaky way they do. We couldn't stop it, but we could work with it, maybe win more brownie points by speeding it up in places. I didn't complain. I got to do what I was trained to do, what I loved to do, without having to do all that nasty bricklaying. Not that it's a bad thing to help rebuild, I mean, but personally I hate how scratchy my scales get after working outside, and...

 **Q: So what did the Initiative entail for you, specifically?**

A: Well, I had humans sitting where you are right now. Scientists, astronauts, engineers, all that stuff. I'd just do what I normally did when going from surface to orbit, or vice versa, and they'd be _watching_ me, looking at me with those creepy big eyes that can only look one way. Have I mentioned how weird human eyes are? _Sssss_.

Anyway, yeah, they'd look at me with their weird eyes, taking notes about everything, taking pictures, taking videos. They'd ask me questions all the while, too. "What's this? How does this work? How are your heatshields able to withstand multiple reentries without renewal?" Chatterboxes, all of them. I didn't build the rockets; I just fly 'em. Who did they think I was, that rocket scientist of theirs? Jimmy Neutron?

 **Q: Robert Goddard.**

A: Knew I got it mixed up. Love that show.

Anyway. Space stuff. Yeah, once they squeezed me dry, they had me working as a cargo guy, basically. Lifting parts and tech into orbit, so they could build their orbital toys for cheaper while they were still working on their own ships. Risky flying, back then. Tstilov's Warning was still in effect.

 **Q: Tstilov's Warning?**

A: Basically, if you break something in space, it could result in little bits of hypersonic shrapnel that breaks more stuff and makes more shrapnel. And boy was there a lot of stuff broken in orbit back then. Human satellites, our starships, fithp digit ships... Your big-ass warships were safe in those conditions, as was the fithp worldship, but you gotta remember that they were basically bricks. Delicate ships and equipment would've gotten shredded.

Yeah, they had to clear that out. Digit ships carried salvage crews for the big things. Detached engines. The occasional reactor. Even bodies, frozen ones that got spilled out into the void when their ship got split by a gamma laser or fithp missile. Think someone made some creepy photo artwork about that; it was in big museums for a while. As for the small things, they used fithp lasers with modified specs and called it a laser broom or something. Make the shit ablate so its orbit gets all eccentric, and then it burns up in the atmosphere. Earth was getting little meteor showers everywhere for a good six months because of that.

 **Q: Afterwards, did your role change?**

A: Yeah. By like... 2024, 2025? By then the human spaceflight industry was exploding, thanks to all the little and big things they learned from us. Anything they weren't investing in rebuilding or other vital stuff was going into space. Coulda sworn a human astronaut told me that they used to only put half a percent of their economy into space travel in his not-empire, and then it skyrocketed to eight percent.

Now, we didn't just have digit ships and our ships up there, but _human_ ships. Shuttles like ours, but on raw ginger root, and their own _specified_ vehicles. Tugs, repair craft, research vessels, asteroid miners... oh, and the warships. But that shit was opaque to me. They let us in on development for civilian spaceships, but their military stuff were on black sites. We aren't even allowed to try and _find out_ about those sites, under penalty of death.

By that point, we were kinda becoming unimportant. They didn't need us to carry their stuff into orbit when they had their own ships to do the job, now, and no Race ships are allowed past an orbit of five thousand kilometers from Earth, which means we couldn't really help with their bigger cislunar projects.

 **Q: You aren't allowed past five thousand kilometers?**

A: And even then you're pressing things. One time the _Hetto_ got tailed by an Archangel for hitting an apogee of one thousand while making a suborbital flight to the Free Zone in Australia, back when all those males got sick from bad water. Basic thinking is that you can't get far enough to turn around suddenly hit the planet as a relativistic impactor. Since, well, you know.

They mean it, like, they _hecking mean it_. The Fleetlord signed the agreement as part of the World Armistice. Doesn't matter who you are, what you're flying, why you're heading out. You put a toeclaw over that line, you're gonna get turned to radioactive vapor.

So, if we can't really develop the space industry, and we can't head out into the planets, what can we do? What I'm doing now. Become part of the orbital traffic. Instead of helping humanity take baby steps into the void, we now do commercial flights and cargo runs.

 _He turns an eye turret to me_.

Know what, though? I like it. It's good work, and it's safe work. We may be lagging now, but we're reliable compared to the others, so we have no shortage of passengers. People want quick, they go Chinese or American. They want comfortable, they go Fithp or Indian. But if they want _safe_ , they come to us.

Like I said. I get to do what I love to do, and do it safely.

 _For a moment, there is a rare look of introspection on his face._

I'm really lucky in that way, you know?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Timpinlithchup I**

 _My next interview finds me in Patagonia, where the second installment of Lingfutunpth is being filmed. Much of what I see cannot be described, as I have signed a non-disclosure agreement in order to prevent spoilers._

 _The worlds-famous director invites me into her trailer, where she is currently working on the script of yet another film. A young, smooth-skinned fi', Timpinlithchup waves me over and invites me to sit across the table. Closing her computer, she looks at me with keen eyes._

 **Q: Good afternoon, Filmmistress Chup. I know you're due on set in a short while, so I'll try to be brief.**

A: Oh, it's no trouble. I've been harangued by reporters and paparazzi prying for any rinds of information about this shoot, but you're the first to ask about something else.

 **Q: Allow me to get into it, then. Now, you spent your childhood in the Fithp Nation in Borneo, did you not?**

A: Yes, I did indeed. I was only two when the war ended; I was actually born as the _Thuktun Flishithy_ marched here for battle. I was part of the third wave of settling, so much of the city of Natnayf had been built when my family arrived. I don't remember my time aboard Message Bearer. No real thoughts; just _feelings_.

The city had gotten bigger by the time I can remember earliest. Our numbers were already swelling, and what had been but a small collection of prefabs and ramshackle houses was becoming a proper town. We had internet, we had cell phone towers, a marketplace...

 _Her ears flap, a happy gesture._

And a _movie theater_.

 **Q: A movie theater? But I thought the fithp had not made film entertainment before the war.**

A: And we didn't. The movies available in the theater were all human made, with the occasional Race film that some male had brought with him on laser disc or holoprojector. Herdmistress Joshi had decided it would be good to allow mutual cultural understanding, and so we were being granted or sold all sorts of media, though there was still screening to avoid propaganda, and they had to make translations for everything.

I remember watching movies nearly-constantly as a youth. The theater was state-funded, you see, so tickets were free. If we fithp were looking to relax after work on building our new nation, or just wanted to keep the children occupied, then the theater was the place to be. My family and my friends would go after school ended, since the work-shift and school schedule were made to be aligned, and we'd watch all sorts of movies.

 **Q: What films did you watch as a youth?**

A: What _didn't_ I see? I saw comedies from America, horror from Germany, romance from Mexico... I saw film greats, like Kubrick and Bergman and Kurosawa, and I also saw Judd Apatow flicks and B-movies. Anime, musicals, silent movies... if there was a style or genre, I saw it.

There were also a thuktun's worth of Bollywood films. I'm _sure_ there was no bias or subtle anger in that one.

 _She winks._

Moving on, however... as much as I enjoyed many of the films I saw, there was an... empty spot. A longing.

 **Q: Care to explain?**

A: I have always loved stories. My parents used to regale me with the oral stories they heard from their ancestors. _Lingfuntunthp_ , the legendary Herdmaster of the old Herd of _Chpuk_ , who stole the thuktunthp from the gods and gave it to all fithpkind. _Glingfkip_ , the war between our two suns that birthed the world.

But the thing is, our stories were... few. Our people were... _are_ young. More time passed between the rise and fall of old Rome than did the discovery of the first thuktun and our arrival here. We had few stories compared to even Bronze Age men, for our cultures were barely changed by the wonders we found in the stones.

And besides, no matter how engaging an oral story is, it's still just one type of fiction. So when we suddenly had books and movies and manga to consume, we were quite happy to. But even then, that empty feeling, that _yearning_ , continued to linger.

Because ultimately, we were holding them at trunk's-length. I loved the movies I watched growing up, and I still do. But I cannot connect with them on the same level that humans can, because humans are, in a term I'm sure some will find ironically amusing, _alien_. A calf and a child are going to look at a Superman comic in inherently different ways, because Superman is a _man_ , not a fi'. Everyone instinctively creates stories about their own species, because stories are a way of reflecting upon ourselves. But during that time, when we looked in that mirror, we didn't see ourselves. We saw an alien.

 **Q: Is that what pushed you to start making films?**

A: Yes. And it's what pushed Mingtupnang-thul to start writing poetry, and what drove Pfanglikaynf to become a novelist. It's almost like the paradox of light. These things happened because _we_ decided to do them, and yet at the same time it was an inevitability, like gravity, that fithp started making art, just as how light is both wave and particle.

Inevitable, because we had undergone the largest cultural shifts in our short history, so vast as to strain belief. We had neither absorbed, nor been absorbed by, humanity, instead living aside them as neighbors. We had been given a sky once again, even if there was only one sun in it, and we had been exposed to all of these new ideas and forms of art.

But also a decision, because I had no idea about any of that when I started out. I just wanted to make movies.

 **Q: Your first film was an adaptation of _Lingfutunpth,_ was it not?**

A: Oh, _that_.

 _She lets out an amused moo._

That's still more than a little embarrassing. There was no production value to speak of. My friends and I just went off after school every day and we'd film in the forest nearby, covered in sloppy 'warpaint' and waving clubs around. My, my. I was always entranced by the forest, just creeping at the edges of our home, and so I incorporated it into my film as much as possible. It was near orangutan territory, actually; and sometimes they'd watch us film.

If you ask me, after years of film school and literary training, it is only natural I was drawn to the forest. After being born in metal halls, we had a sky to live under, and proper soil to roll in. Alien, but ours. Playground equipment for the imagination.

Anyway, we used an old computer for special effects, and then we uploaded the film to the internet. And then it _exploded_. It was the novelty, and definitely an ironic pleasure in the horrible quality, that made it so popular. People were touting it as the first fithp movie, the first alien film made on Earth, a landmark in cinematic history, while laughing at the horrible effects and acting all the while.

But in the end, it was still good.

 **Q: Because CalArts offered to accept you into their film classes?**

A: That too, but mainly because it brought attention to us in a way that wasn't just politics, wasn't just the _war_. It allowed the world to realize that we were a _people_ , that we had a culture, however nascent... and that we also made horrible home movies as youths. A cultural renaissance for an entire species was happening, and now they could witness it in action, maybe even help it grow with patronage and good box-office returns. A seed of change and beauty was planted that day.

And so, I have been watering it ever since.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Sudarto I**

 _Unlike previous interviews, the very nature of my next subject's situation demands a video call, as the next flight inbound to Meridiani Planum would take forty days at the current moment, with a price tag in the millions. Even the call itself is difficult- due to light-speed lag, a minimum of sixteen minutes can pass between my question and his answer._

 _A young Javanese man of thirty-four, Sudarto greets me on the video screen with a smile, though he is clearly tired from his week-long geological survey in Da Vinci Crater. Nevertheless, he manages to be quite lively as we speak, even across the light-speed lag._

 **Q: Good morning, Dr. Sudarto. To minimize your time, I will ask my questions in clumps. Firstly, what were some of the difficulties your crew has faced in establishing a permanent presence on Mars? Secondly, what impact, if any, would you say the fithp and Race have had on that?**

A: It's mid-afternoon here, actually. Nice high of ten degrees Celsius, though it's going to drop into about eighty below when the sun sets. Anyway, to answer your questions.

Yes, we have faced some considerable challenges. Not necessarily the challenges that people might imagine. Despite what some old movies have implied, dust storms are more of a nuisance than anything else; the atmosphere is so thin that you'd experience worse on a normal day at the beach. And we are able to synthesize oxygen from the water ice we have found, though we were operating on our own rations for a good two months as we made sure there were _no_ organisms or harmful chemical compounds within. It's a miracle that we haven't suffered any real contamination issues with the alien life that has come to Earth, and we don't want to press our luck.

What is more challenging is radiation. There's no magnetic field to speak of, here, which means we get the full blast of the sun's radiation. It's why we cake the habitats in a sort of concrete made from the regolith here; the thickness and metal-rich nature helps to protect us, but we still need to take cover during solar storms.

Even more challenging altogether, however, is _sustainability_. It's easy to maintain a presence if you only have a handful of astronauts that can be resupplied by our torchships. But to prove that we can _live_ here, with room for population growth? When making Martian soil usable for our greenhouses is an immense problem, and everything must be carefully managed to ensure our little ecosystem functions? That is something else entirely.

Now, allow me to answer your question about the fithp and Race. Yes, they helped considerably. Our engines derived from Race designs have allowed absurd amounts of supplies and equipment to be delivered here, and much shorter than what we had dreamed of before the war happened. We used to speak of Hohmann transfers to bring a handful of people here in eighteen months, with everything stripped of weight in ways that sometimes veered towards the dangerous. Did you know that you could punch a pencil through the first generation of lunar landers' hull? Terrifying.

Now, we can get a hundred people and practically entire disassembled bases brought here in less than a tenth of that time. When I came here eight years ago, we started with twenty crew, one inflatable base with a floor area of three hundred meters, two rovers, and only basic scientific instruments. _That_ was Opportunity Base. And now, we're essentially a town. Five thousand colonists and scientists, working together to make a new life here on another world.

That's where the fithp have aided us. They had to live in a lone ship for more than sixty years, and the knowledge they gained from that stone is a treasure here. Methods of handling the radiation, technology for deriving air and fuel from the soil beneath us that outstripped our wildest dreams... so many things, so many things I could list.

 **Q: You mention fithp assistance in that regard. What is your opinion on their claims that Mars is, in essence, a dead end when compared to the Belt and Oort Cloud? What are your opinions on the debate regarding the political impact of Mars's growing population in the future?**

 _Millions of kilometers away, he snorts._

A: _Some_ of the fithp place too much emphasis on the mineral wealth of the asteroid belt. There's still a gap in opinion between the sleepers and the lifers, I hear, but that's a bit beside the point. Yes, the belt contains many, _many_ materials that are useful... no, _vital,_ to the future. Iron, nickel, carbon, the like. That's why ships are heading out here, though I still feel Luna is more important in that regard. Yes, the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt possess far more water than even Earth. And _yes_ , the gravity well poses issues.

But the fithp forget that many of the asteroids in the belt are essentially mounds of gravel held together by their own weak gravity. Only a few asteroids are safe for colonization, such as Ceres and Vesta. The rest are too small or too unstable, best meant as mines or even tools in the colonization of other worlds. I know the community Earthside is debating the use of comets to terraform this world, but if you ask me...

 _He grimaces_.

Too many problems on too many levels, at least for now. Despite the gravity well issue, Mars is still ideal. We may be metal-poor when compared to Earth or the Belt, but all the necessary materials of survival are here, in the air and soil. We can expand without worrying of cracking the entire thing apart. And let's not forget the psychological impact. It may not be Earth, but at least _here_ there is still a sky above us, and ground beneath our feet. We even get the occasional clouds. We have only sent thirty people home over the years because of the stress, while the asteroid crews have double that number and a tiny fraction the populace.

A waste? No. I think this is an experiment. If Man can live here, He can live anywhere. If we can make a living, _thriving_ populace here, then we can make one amongst the stars, without having to fight for habitable worlds.

And as for the social impact...

 _He falls silent, thinking for a few moments._

Excuse me.

 _Carefully, he picks up the computer, and brings it to one of the nearby windows. Through it, I can see the 'town square' of Opportunity Base- neatly paved roads of compacted regolith connecting a multitude of domes, power stations, and greenhouses._

 _In the center of this tamed land, however, a patch of wilderness remains, ringed by a fence. A lone machine sits in the regolith, clearly worn with age, but still easily recognizable._

Our namesake. She was a silent casualty of the war; we couldn't bother to send her wake-up signals while we fought for our survival. We decided to build the base around her when we arrived, taking care not to disturb anything. Some of us wanted to take her home, put her in a museum. 'Bring Her Back' was a political slogan here for a while.

But Earth isn't her home anymore. She was there for a short time, best measured in months. She lived here fifteen years, and she died here, in that very spot. She belongs to Mars, now. Just as we belong to Mars. Many of us can't go back due to the gravity wreaking havoc on our bones and hearts.

 _His tone softens_.

My uncle was a salvage man, you know. He spent five years in the Mediterranean, pulling as much as he could from the bottom, rescuing priceless things the waves had pulled out. Worn statues of heroes, broken arches from historic buildings, even jewelry and priceless artifacts from museums and historic ruins. I used to ask him why people cared so much about these things. He told me, "Sometimes, looking back is what gives us strength to move forward."

Many of those pieces he rescued were put back where they were, but they put them in with the new instead of just restoring it to the way it was before. Using an arch stone from the old capitol building for the new one. Incorporating the broken bits of stained glass into new artwork for the churches. Even our namesake had a piece of the old WTC as a shield for cables from the drill.

It's what we're doing here, too. We aren't going to repair her, or send her back home. She's staying here, as a testament. A testament to the old days of exploration, and of human endurance, when some flimsy rover managed to last 15 years instead of the planned three months. In the center of the future, we're keeping a bit of our past, to remind ourselves of what it took to get here.

Some people have said we're going to make divisions as we spread, but I think it's the opposite. I think the effort to get here is just going to bring us closer and closer together, as we go from here to Jupiter and to the stars.

After all, sometimes looking back is what gives us strength to move forward.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _ **You have been reading:**_

 _ **Worldfall, Chapter Eighteen: Rebuilding**_


	19. Chapter 19

**Wallafess VIII**

 _The sun is beginning to set as we return to the Race Free Zone. Wallafess guides me to a small hill near his shack, where he has lawn chairs and warm bottles of fithp-made beer waiting. He lies down on one, looking rather comfortable, and pops off the lid with a deft movement of his fingerclaw._

A: Want one?

 **Q: No thanks.**

A: Suit yourself. It's good stuff; I was actually one of the first to try it.

 **Q: Was this back when you were with Daniels and Joshi?**

A: Yep. We made for an odd trio, but it was a good one. I didn't really have anywhere left to go, so they let me live in the house they were building in Nigeria. Got my own room, which was nice compared to the literal prison I had before. At first, I just went with a Race-style sleeping mat, but human beds grew on me, and your plumbing is just _amazing_.

Nigeria was definitely an interesting time. I did odd jobs during that time, like the other males in Africa. Construction, technical support, that sort of thing. Difference was, I had a house to live in, while the others were in the Free Zones. Back then, there were more of them, you gotta remember. Australia's patch in the outback was the biggest, but the ones in the Arabian Republic, Mali, and Darfur were all pretty sizeable, and that's not counting the smaller ones sprinkled between, like this one. Those guys were living in crowded prefabs or repurposed apartment buildings, and here I was, with a fucking _porch_.

 _He sips his beer._

Getting off-track, aren't I? Yeah, it was nice back then, living with them. Good to have friends again, even if they were definitely oddballs compared to the ones I had before the war. Chris and I used to chill on the porch sometimes after a long day of nation-building and diplomacy, sharing a blunt, shooting the shit. Never thought when I signed up to be a soldier that I'd instead be, like, the exact opposite of that.

Still, not everything was golden. I might've been spared a lot of it, but I knew that everything was gonna be peachy for us surviving troopmales. Rebuilding people's houses doesn't exactly make them forget just _who_ knocked those houses down in the first place.

 **Q: Did you witness the various hate crimes against the Race troopmales?**

A: No, not really. The aftermath, sometimes. The occasional male found in an alleyway, beaten to death or even stabbed. Bullet holes in the walls of their shacks and apartments. Nasty signs.

The sight of a poor Hallessi hanging from a street light by his guts in Riyadh really stuck out to me. Someone had written something on him in his blood, along the likes of 'Remember Mumbai'i'.

The real kicker? He was a _mechanic_ , who'd never been in a thousand kilometers of Mumbai'i. Many of the guys who'd surrendered were non-combat, smoothscales, or had already defected and fought _for_ humanity. Almost all the males responsible for those fuckers' pain had already died long ago.

That's when my job started changing, from construction worker to guard. Much of the land we'd conquered or hit during the war had already been rebuilt by year two, at least in the nations that let us directly work, but that didn't stop the violence much at first. So a lot of us switched to different jobs, like guards or police. I was ideal for the job, you gotta remember. I'm a fit Rabotev with combat experience. Couldn't be bribed with ginger, was stronger than the other two species, and I knew how to fight.

 **Q: How often did you see combat?**

A: Like, twice, and both times consisted of me just shooting in the air to scare off some drunk jackass who walked up the gates with a gun. I think the very fact there were more guards did a lot to dissuade things. And, well, things were calming down. The bad winters were getting less bad, the world was close to done with rebuilding, and quality of life was improving everywhere. I ended up focusing on the ginger trade more than I did hate crimes or terrorist threats by 2024 or so.

Still, there were spikes. The rainforest stand-off between the Fithp Nation and Brazil somehow caused people to come after _us,_ for whatever reason, and we had the occasional trouble maker. Both us and the fithp had 'that guy' we talk about when it comes to human hate crimes, the one who sets the bar for everything that came before and after. They had Lizbeth...

 _He pauses for a moment, then takes another swig of his beer, grimacing._

And _we_ had Wáng.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Wang VI**

 _Once again, Wang's face becomes expectant, and he lets out a single sigh._

A: We have spoken enough about the times that came before. For that, my friend, I will forever be grateful. Now, let us delve into my legacy, for that is why you are really here, and to claim otherwise is preposterous, considering that there are many others with similar stories you could have interviewed.

 **Q: Very well. After a year in the Corps, as well as two months of freelance medical work in your home nation, you began to travel abroad. Was that with the express purpose of killing nonhumans in mind?**

A: Yes... and no. I actually continued my medical work, you know. Africa, India, the Middle East... where the aliens had wreaked havoc, I worked. I didn't even charge my patients; I was funded entirely by donations of food and medical supplies. I must have helped thousands of people, from burns to life-saving operations.

But, my work also brought me close to the Free Zones, and the Fithp Nation. Close to those who had caused all that pain, close to my _targets_. As a doctor, I had goodwill, _goodwill_ of all things, in the eyes of the aliens. Compared to the other people, I could more easily move in and out of the Free Zones.

 **Q: And that's how you accomplished your first killings?**

A: Yes. I'd mend broken bones for the elderly and clean out infected wounds on children during the day, and then I'd kill those responsible for said wounds at night, travelling inside the Free Zones' gates with the other doctors and high-grade personnel.

Like a lion hunting gazelles, you must single out the targets. I'd head to their holes in the walls, drinking ginger ale and pretending it was some alcoholic beverage, idly watching the lizards move about, lapping ginger and otherwise engaging in debauchery. When one went to leave, all alone, I'd follow. Usually, they were too drunk or high on the spice to notice me.

When they were alone, and none could witness, I'd strike.

Sloppy business, but enough to hide suspicion. I wore thick gloves and tear-resistant sleeves, so their claws and teeth would not harm me, and I'd merely deign to kill them by hand. I was monstrously strong in my youth, having spent much of my time exercising, and they are _weak_. If that half-starved woman Joshi could break a Fleetlord's ribs, imagine what I can do?

It was routine, after a while. I'd grab them by their thin necks, squeezing hard enough that they could make no sound. I'd pull them into a nearby alleyway, and I'd hoist them into the air and bash their heads against the unyielding walls, over and over again. Their skulls usually cracked after the first or second blow. I'd hit them against the wall seven or eight times, until their scaly little braincases were just mush.

That's just for the Race males. For the Hallessi, I could grab their reedy throats with both hands and simply _twist_ , snapping their necks in one motion. The Rabotevs were tougher; I'd often stun them with a brick before I could effectively start to break their skulls.

With all of their bodies, I'd dispose of it in the trash, then pour bleach all over the gloves and throw them in as well. Then I'd return to where I had been doing field work, and use the showers there to wash off, and if someone questioned me, I could just say it was blood from a patient, which was actually true half the time.

Again, I must stress this was my early, _sloppy_ work, filled with anger.

 **Q: Isn't anger at the nonhumans what drove you?**

A: No. I myself believed it was rage that drove me, for I could scarcely feel anything else. Blinding, consuming fury, like hot iron in my veins. But I realized that the rush of the slaughter was ephemeral, that it did not relieve my anger an iota.

My anger was simply that of a wounded man who had lost his family. An anger that many others felt. I eventually managed to find therapy for it, and finally it seemed as though I could feel happiness again.

 **Q: But the killings continued.**

A: And why would they not? Does an exterminator hate the cockroaches? Does a doctor such as myself feel boundless rage at a tumor? My gradual recovery from the pain merely marked a change in method. I no longer felt the need to get up close, to feel the rush of the kill. It became like the rest of my work- clinical. No longer vicious beatings, but a calm and collected measure to demoralize and destroy the aliens.

That, dear friend, was when I began to broaden my horizons. Poisoning. Arson. Oh, I continued up-close killings, but that remained a clinical matter. Isolated murders stoke fear, showing them that nowhere is safe, especially if you make a display of it. Writing warnings in their blood, selectively removing their organs... I would even leave half-eaten body parts at the scene. Not all often, of course. Their flesh tastes disgusting. But it was enough to transform me from a lone killer to the Devil incarnate in their eyes.

 _Ppistihassalotashak._ The One Who Eats in Darkness. That was the name they came up with for me in their news. I must admit, I felt a bit of pride in that moniker. It means I was accomplishing my duty.

But, I suppose every day must have its dusk. And mine began when I began to hunt the fithp.

 **Q: Because of tightened security due to Lizbeth and her disciples?**

A: No, I actually tried beforehand. It's merely that trying to kill a four hundred kilogram beast that is _never_ alone and has more advanced technology is easier said than done. I felt a sense of despair then. The Race was becoming more wise to my methods, which made killing there much harder, and I had no luck with the fithp. Either the killings would stop, or I would be captured or killed, which would stop the killings regardless.

Then, I saw an opportunity with the liberalization of my nation. With the Party less than a malignant spirit, we had begun to elect officials in earnest, and a new wave of politicians were being born. And, more than perhaps any other nation save for perhaps the Americans and Indians, my nation hated the aliens with a burning passion that had not subsided.

So I moved back home, and ran for office on the grounds of abolishing the Free Zones, abolishing the Fithp Nation, and military action against their worlds. It was quite a popular movement. Many of those who lost loved ones with the dam or Chongqing rallied behind me. Polls were showing I had a chance of becoming President in 2028.

Alas, that is what destroyed me.

 **Q: You believe it was the election that allowed you to be discovered? Wasn't Intelligence Officer Drefsab already making considerable ground in the investigation?**

A: Ah, but it is entirely possible he would have encountered a dead end. But the Lizbeth incident had made investigations into anti-alien groups all the more pervasive, and now people who had turned a blind eye were deluded into thinking that they had been wrong to mistrust the beasts. _That_ , I say, is what destroyed me. With that, Drefsab now had INTERPOL and the Fithp Nation's own detectives investigating _Ppistihassalotashak._ And with that... well, you know the rest.

 **Q: After all these years, do you maintain your sanity, as you did in court?**

A: Of course. I am sane. I know what is right, and what is wrong. I have no hallucinations or delusions about reality. I was a good son, and a good husband. I was a doctor who saved lives. It is simply that my existence is inconvenient to that fool Gao and his silly message of making peace with Home. But, at the same time, I could not be simply executed for my thousands of successes, not when half of China still agrees with me. I get letters from admirers every day. In a billion eyes, I am a _hero_.

And so they declare me insane, and keep me here.

 **Q: Do you think you will be deemed insane for the rest of your life?**

 _To that, he simply smiles._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Excerpt from _Humanity Supreme_ , the Manifesto of Lizbeth Brynner**

 _What, one may ask, is the Alien? Is it merely another species of animal that chanced upon sentience? An unknowable force from another star? A potential friend?_

 _The Alien is none of these things. The Alien is **competition** , in its purest form._

 _Humanity alone is a species of change. Our knowledge was not **given** to Us, like an owner gives treats to a dog. Our knowledge was pulled from the earth beneath Us and the sky above Us, by the power of our minds and hands alone. It was **earned** , through experiments and exploration, through pain and death. Forgotten pet-owners did not give Us the power of the atom- minds like Einstein and Bohr did. Goddard and Von Braun opened the sky, not etchings in stone. Neither was Our knowledge controlled by the powers that be, telling Us where to go and what to do, and what **not** to do. Our knowledge flourished in the chaos, not the gripping hand of one whom fancied himself the master of his people._

 _It is for these reasons that Humanity rises above the Alien, for we are change embodied. The Alien is stagnant, content to never look past the stone, content to never advance at the bidding of their Emperor. It is for these reasons that the Alien is doomed, for only the chaotic can survive in a universe of chaos. Whether in a hundred years, a thousand years, a hundred thousand years, the universe will leave the Alien behind to death and decay, while We reign supreme in the cosmos._

 _And it for these reasons that the Alien must die, before it destroys us in turn._

 _The goals of the Alien is inherently incompatible with Humanity. In their eyes, the only right universe is the universe where Humanity has either perished or fallen under their yoke. Humanity is not a potential ally to them- it is a threat, a future conquest, and nothing more. This false armistice is an illusion- the Alien seeks peace not because it believes peace is possible, but because it desires a reprieve, because it realizes that it is at Our mercy. We have the Viper beneath Our feet, and now it begs for mercy, so it may strike when We look away._

 _Negotiation is only a stopgap. As long as Humanity lives free, we will always be a violation of their intellectual Sovereignty- the idea that they are the inheritors of creation, and that all is for taking. After all, how can they claim to be the rulers of the universe, when there remains a beautiful blue world out of their control?_

 _This is not a matter of Nations. This is a fundamental, irrecoverable divide, based in the very bones of our worlds. Nations are capable of change, as they are composed of Humanity. The Alien is inherently incapable of transformation. To lose their intellectual Sovereignty is to destroy themselves, and so they must destroy Us._

 _And destroy Us they will. Even if it takes a thousand years to wage war upon Us once again, they will do so, and they will not merely attempt to conquer us. They will use their mighty engines, and strike our world until not even cockroaches can survive. The Aliens that defile our world as I write this will spread and spread, in an attempt to either breed Us out, or produce enough populace and capital to resume their conquest and make us their slaves._

 _This is a matter of Us against the Alien. We cannot ignore an existential threat on our doorstep; the only guarantee of Our safety is to ensure the Alien can no longer pose a threat to us._

 _In order for Humanity to live, the Alien must die._

 **\- This manifesto was posted online one hour before the January 12th Attack, perpetrated by the xenophobic terrorist group 'Human Freedom'. Though the attempt to initiate a nuclear warhead in the Fithp Nation in Brazil was ultimately foiled by the joint efforts of Nation soldiers, INTERPOL, and the Brazilian Armed Forces, the selected bombings and shootings during the attack ultimately cost the lives of nearly 2,100 fithp.**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Drefsab I**

 _A relatively difficult-to-find individual, I eventually am able to arrange an interview with the intelligence officer near Bujumbura. It is a warm, lazy day in the Free Joint Republics of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, with a blood-orange sunset dominating the sky._

 _My interviewee is far from lazy, however. I find Drefsab quietly laying down in the grass near the Ruzizi River, watching the water with a pair of binoculars. He does not look away as I sit down near him._

 **Q: Thank you for your time, Intelligence Officer Drefsab.**

A: It is of no issue. What have you come to ask me about, then? I admit my experiences are... broad.

 **Q: I was hoping to inquire about your investigations into xenophobic terrorism post-war.**

A: Very well. First, you must understand how I was assigned to the job. I had served as an intelligence operative in the war, primarily to gather information on the enemy, but also to help thwart insurgent efforts in our occupied territory. It was during this time I earned my distinction as an effective officer.

 **Q: Many regard as the single most savvy Race operative during the war. Why do you think you are referred to as such?**

A: When you go to war, you prepare for war. That is a common saying among my people, even though millennia may pass between wars. It is a rough translation, of course. There is a hidden weight to the statement, one that only a fluent speaker understands. It is not some literal adage; it is an idiom we apply to all tasks. When you are to do something, whether it be wage war or replace a broken window, you must _prepare_ to do so. You consider all possibilities and angles.

And so, as I was ordered to understand the enemy and their operations, I prepared for my duty. I could not _think_ like a troopmale, as his goals and training would be different from an insurgent; I had to think like a human. Consider their views, their way of approaching things. Other officers were content with interrogating the captured soldiers about objective matters. Troop movements, weapon capabilities, the like.

I aimed to learn of their motives, and the culture that produced such motives. I asked myself what I would do if a technologically advanced foe was invading my own home. What could I use? How far would I be willing to go? To find answers, I studied the propaganda posters we found on walls and buildings across the planet, and listened to civilian radio.

The internet was most useful to that task. I trawled through message boards and news sites, sifting through what you would call the cesspool of your cultures. I studied anti-alien websites, and researched the vocal lunatics, the ones who made outrageous falsehoods about us.

As a result, I became good at finding potential terrorists in occupied territory, and telltale signs of planned attacks. It is important to not overestimate the enemy, but you also should not underestimate the enemy's _stupidity_. It was astonishing how many attacks were foiled because some addled nitwit posted a picture of himself with a gun and mask on the internet.

 _There is movement in the water. Drefsab pauses, then jots something down in a journal laying open near him._

In addition, I also experimented. I was in charge of the first and only Race attempt at cyberwarfare, when we managed to bribe a young hacker with warm showers and soft beds for his family, and coordinated with specialists on our nascent propaganda efforts. Alas, many of these efforts were in vain, and even our counterinsurgency campaigns were falling before the sheer scale of human resistance in Africa and the Middle East.

Nevertheless, I had warranted the Fleetlord's attention. I served directly under him during the Manhattan Conferences, and when the Free Zones were established, I was essentially put in charge of their security. Many of the guards were hand-selected by me.

Therefore, when the killings began, I was on the case.

 **Q: How did you investigate the case?**

A: Like how a human detective would handle the issue. I took photos of the crime scene. I collected evidence, corroborated with human forensics labs, and questioned potential witnesses. It was through such work that we came to the unsettling conclusion that instead of isolated cases, we were looking at a lone killer. At that point, it should have been easy to identify the murderer, but it was not. The issue at my clawtips was that Wang was very meticulous in his murders. He often washed down his gloves in bleach before disposing of them, and his work as a field surgeon meant that few people would suspect him.

Thankfully, he was not perfect. Security cameras would, on occasion, capture him in part, which eventually allowed us to develop a rough estimate of his size and proportions. We screened those entering and leaving the Free Zones based on that estimate, which is where we ran into the next issue. Chiefly, the human nations were not keen on us detaining their workers. It took two years and nearly three hundred deaths at one man's hands before they allowed us to screen those moving in and out.

It was our luck that Wang would actually agree to questioning and came off clean. A troubled background that could indicate a hatred for the Race, but there was scarcely a soul on Earth who didn't have that, and he had never been caught smuggling even ginger, let alone weapons. That alone may have delayed the investigation for years.

Still, we drew closer. We realized his pattern of traveling from Zone to Zone, and we managed to increase guards in where we predicted he would move next. It was during that time that I crossed paths with INTERPOL. They, too, had been investigating the murders, though out of a concern that they were related to Humanity Supreme.

 **Q: How often did you cooperate?**

A: Quite often. I was amenable to working alongside humans, unlike many others. A job well done is a job well done, regardless of who performed it. When they revealed concerns that Humanity Supreme had perhaps gotten their hands on an explosive-metal bomb, I allowed them access to the records of EMBs that we had captured from human nations during the war, and in exchange they gave me importance forensic evidence regarding the Wang Case.

When it was confirmed that a EMB captured from Pakistan had been lost during the surrender, we sent the alerts along all official channels available. I immediately alerted the Fleetlord, and in turn he alerted Joshi, while INTERPOL alerted the human nations' leaders. The natural distrust between human, fithp, and Race was washed away in a moment, for all of us feared the implications. A single EMB could easily destroy the fragile balance we had created on this world, depending on where it was initiated, and plunge all five species into panic and chaos.

I suppose it is a great irony. Humanity Supreme had hoped to forever divide man and alien, and to destroy the latter. And yet, I would like to believe that the cooperation between all of us to stop them brought us closer. We had fought alongside each other, but it was chaotic due to the nature of the Schism, and rebuilding was merely repairing the mess we had made.

But here, it was full, honest, and more than just undoing our own mess. We had served as a common enemy to bring the human nations together, and now Humanity Supreme served as a common enemy to unite us _fully_ with the others.

That, in my opinion, was a job well done.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Khosarani I**

 _My next interview finds me speaking through a vidscreen once again, though with a far smaller delay. From the L2 Defense Station, Commander Dunya Khosarani studies me with hard eyes. Over the past four years as one of the leading figures of the Transnational Global Defense Force, Khosarani has earned a reputation as an effective officer, having helped to facilitate the continuing growth of planet Earth's defenses._

 _She also holds the record for the highest discharge rate._

 **Q: Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to speak with me, Commander Khosarani.**

A: I don't like journalists. Too many prying eyes when it comes to confidential projects. They're _meant_ to be secret, you know.

 **Q: But you are granting an interview?**

A: I don't like journalists, but I know they're important. People need to be able to trust their defenders. What exactly we're using and where they are should remain a mystery for everyone's safety, but the _why_ and the _how_ should be known.

 **Q: Very well. Commander Khosarani, how did you become involved in the TGDF?**

A: During the great liberalization post-war, when my homeland shed the theocracy of old. Suddenly, the sky was open, and I wanted to go _up_. I was in my twenties, and I had access to free college education as a result. My appetite for study proved voracious, and so I managed to pass the entrance tests for the TGDF.

You have to remember, the qualifications for orbital deployment roles are extensive. It is essentially an astronaut, technician, and soldier rolled into one. I applied in 2023, only a year after the program opened its doors, as did hundreds of thousands of others. By the time we graduated in 2026, only a thousand made the cut, myself included. Those who didn't, if they were still deemed high-value, were placed into ground-support roles.

 **Q: You mention the post-war liberalization period allowing you to apply. How global was this global task force at first?**

A: Not as much as it is now. Every nation who signed the Manhattan Conference and World Armistice, including even the Fithp Nation, are to provide a portion of the funding. If you want to be recognized as a nation, you _have_ to sign that. Free Tibet and Darfur signed up, even though they were still primarily agrarian and nomadic. When Russia broke up, the three pieces signed, even though they were still at each others' throats at the time.

But not everyone could send the same amount of recruits and funding, even proportionately. India was still rebuilding too much to contribute a proper percentage until 2027, despite being one of the world's largest economies, and my nation was a bit short of potential members, considering just how restrictive education had been for half the populace. Thankfully, a few were able to put proportionately _more_.

 **Q: How much _was_ initially given to the TGDF?**

A: Half a percent of the GWP, which spiked at two percent in 2031 and has been easing down since. We started lower due to the fact that we still needed to rebuild from the damage, as well as the fact that we still had three warships in orbit.

 **Q: "We?" But the Archangels and the Seraph-class warship were respectively American and Russian-made.**

A: The Americans and Russians decided to make them the first contribution to the force, in exchange for a greater degree of control over them compared to other nations, as well as having to not pay their shares for five years. Considering just how much money they pumped into them, as well as the fact America didn't have a south and Russia was shaking apart at the time, it was a good agreement.

But those three weren't going to last forever. And even if they _could_ last, there was no way you could defend a planet with merely three warships. You'd need support vessels, a proper logistical chain, command centers and spacedocks... and more warships, of course. More numerous, more tonnage, more weaponry, more efficiency.

 **Q: The three ships had been enough to destroy or force into retreat all fithp and Race space assets with minimal damage. Why was there such a disproportionate focus on military space assets afterwards?**

 _Khosarani arches a single thin eyebrow._

A: You do realize that a hundred and fifty million people died in an alien invasion, right? Entire cities turned to glass and dust, entire nations washed away in a deluge out of the old faiths, the most horrific weapons in history unleashed? All of that happened because we couldn't defend our orbitals. When we started this program, we had no idea if the Hearth fithp were alive or not. For all we knew, they could have found another stone and were coming our way with a ship ten times larger than the first ship, with weaponry a hundred times more devastating.

And even if we did not need to fear them and the Race, what if there are more out there? Already we know we are just one of _five_ intelligent species, all within twenty light years of each other. There are 83 star systems within that range- if we used the same ratio for the rest of the galaxy, there could be as many as six _billion_ other intelligent species out there. Even if we make the math more strignent, where it's just the G and K type systems, or the G and K type systems born from the Thin Disk, the number is still astonishing.

 _She pauses._

My bad, I forgot about the Precursors. That makes six, even if they are all dead. Two species on the same planet is even more damning. And the age proves that we aren't early birds, either. The Race has had spaceflight for 60,000 years, the Precursors might've taken off a _million_ years ago... there could be some _very_ old civilizations out in the dark.

So, better safe than sorry.

 **Q: Does that mean you believe Earth may be invaded again?**

A: No. Not quite. I like to think that a long time could pass between things like these. We know there aren't any fusion-drive using polities for at least a thousand light years out from here, discounting the Race. And the circumstances behind this invasion were _quite_ specific.

On the other hand, if someone _does_ come here for a fight, they won't be able to get to Earth and invade. They'll be hitting themselves against the most well-defended planet in known space.

 _For once, a smile crosses her lips._

Even with the six years before the war, we were an incomplete bastion. Some nations were properly fortified, like the US, but not all of them. No orbital control to speak of, and too many defenseless nations.

But now, we are a fortress among the stars. Listening posts in the Kuiper Belt. Cislunar interceptors. Nuclear mines that can fire NEFPs, C-Hows, and X-ray lasers. We have the Home Fleet of 150 ships, with three divisions, each led by one of the Big Three that had liberated our sky. They might be outdated despite the upgrades, but it's more akin to an old battleship to a destroyer in that regard, and the morale boost is quite incredible.

And that isn't getting into the Ow-guns, surface missile launchers, defensive laser arrays...

We do simulations, plenty of them, to determine our defense capabilities. Probe for weaknesses and the like. I can't tell you many due to classified elements, but if you want something the readers will eat up, we also sometimes used fictional enemies in the simulations.

 **Q: Fictional enemies?**

A: Alien invaders from works of fiction. Movies, books, video games. The ones with hard numbers, if only in the manuals that no one reads. We did it as much as from amusement as it was due to their varying strengths and weaknesses, many of which were factors we were considering in our serious war games.

I'm sure some hardcore fans will dispute it, but it's quite interesting nevertheless. We could feasibly fight off quite a few invasions that devastated the world in their stories. It's nice to know the Martians wouldn't even clear their own planet's orbit if they were tangling with us.

 _She sighs, then looks away, as if at a camera feed._

Of course, there are some issues you can't resolve with a shooting war...

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **New York Times Article - August 5th, 2026**

 _ **Peace Once More  
**_ ** _Russian Successor States Sign Treaty_**

ROME - After five years of social upheaval, hostile diplomatic relations, and outright violence, it seems that the three sons of Old Russia will finally make amends.

In a historic treaty signed yesterday in the Church of Santi Luca e Martina, the three successor states of the Russian Federation- the New Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Eastern Republic of Russia, and the remaining Russian Federation actual, signed a treaty stating that all three states would recognize each other as sovereign nations, as well as finalizing the border lines between said countries.

"Strife has dominated the hearts of the Russian people for far too long," says New Soviet Premier Grigori Andreiovich Popov. "In an age of ever-growing peace between nations, such pain grows increasingly intolerable."

Popov, who had formerly been the Governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast during the War for Earth, had arguably begun the secession crisis in late 2021 by declaring the district independent of the Russian Federation, citing the deep-rooted corruption that had resulted in the severe economic crisis post-war.

"We had entire nations to help prop up if we wanted to ensure our national security," stated Popov in a 2022 speech, after the Republic of Bashkortostan joined the NUSSR. "And where was that money going? To oligarchs. To crooks. This is secession not as a matter of politics, but of survival."

Tensions had only worsened as the Autonomous Okrug of Chutoka declared independence, bringing everything east of Krasnoyarsk under its influence. For four years, the three large successor states engaged in sanctions, sabotage, and outright skirmishes, with only the officer's rebellion under General Petrikov preventing full-on war.

Despite the dire situation, progress had been gradually made, such as after the snap election in the Russian Federation in 2023, which resulted in the election of upstart Mikhail Nikoleyavich Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov, a veteran of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, agreed to a peace summit with the NUSSR in the contested city of Nizhny Novgorod, a summit encouraged by other power blocs. Another peace summit, this time with the Eastern Republic as well, seemed promising.

"It's amazing how far we can come in such a short time," Kuznetsov said, speaking to a crowd consisting of major world leaders, such as Chinese President Sheng and Herdmistress Mamta Joshi. "We may have differing ideals of governance, but we are, all of us, _human_. The calamitous struggle of six years past has pulled the wool from our eyes."

Popov himself seemed to agree. During the recent peace summit, he has pushed for a law allowing citizens of the three nations to freely move across each other's borders, citing similar laws in Europe and the North African Defense Pact nations.

"A handful of years ago, the Russian people were one," he said, in his own speech. "Even if the nations are not, why should the people be kept apart? We swore in the World Armistice that the War for Earth would be our _final_ war. There are too many graves, too many empty cities, to defile that promise. The pen, not the sword, must resolve this conflict."

Nevertheless, some are skeptical of the recent developments.

"How many times have we promised that this war would be the last?" said Brazilian President Costa. "We said that in 1918, we said that in 1945, and now we're saying it in 2026. I hope this time will hold true, but that is only a _hope_."

"The ideology of a nation is a stubborn thing," said Fleetlord Atvar. "Everyone is convinced that they are right, and the others are wrong. In a sharp divide as this, such ideology may prove insurmountable."

Despite some doubts and worries, many remain hopeful for the future. In the aftermath of global cooperative efforts, whose degree of closeness have been never before seen, it seems that perhaps peace will finally win out on Planet Earth.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Keo I**

 _It's a rainy day in Phnom Penh as I arrive at the Theater of Otherworldly Cultures- a sleek, modern building close to the heart of the city, built a manner meant to be evocative of Khmer, Race, and Fithp styles._

 _Keo Bopha greets me at the backstage of the main theater, where she is currently supervising the placement of a background holoprojector. Keo is a member of a small-but-prominent subculture across the world, known as 'xenoboos'. That is to say, extreme fans of nonhuman cultures. It is quite apparent in her clothing, or lack thereof- she is utterly nude from the hips up, with elaborate patterns painted onto her bare skin in Race-inspired style, all the way to the top of her shaved head. Her fithp-inspired skirt, far wider than necessary, sways as she offers her hand._

 **Q: Good morning, Playmistress Keo.**

A: I greet you as well! _She lets out a short laugh_. It's nice to meet someone who bothers with the terminology. Too many journalists are disrespectful of us, you know? I've been called some _nasty_ things.

 **Q: An open mind is most receptive to reality. Now, let's begin with the beginning. What was your first exposure to Race culture?**

A: My _first_? I can't really say- it was so far back that it's lost in a haze of memories. My father was a translator, you see, and he actually specialized in the Race's language, listening to chatter during the war and translating stuff for the news during the ceasefire and armistice. The Race permeated everything I grew up in.

My dad worked at home, and I'd see and hear his work as a child. I saw sheets of paper with that curly writing of theirs scattered over the house, heard him clicking and popping as he read... it was fascinating to hear. The language is so different from ours, in the way they pronounce the words and put them together, but it's something we can comprehend, and it's beautiful because of that.

 **Q: Did your father teach you Race-tongue?**

A: More than that. It was basically a second language in the house. My father used to actually read me children's books and have me try to translate them back into Race-tongue when I was growing up. Then, as I got older, he started to bring in books _by_ the Race. Classics, like _Gone with the Wind_ , as well as stuff they started writing here. _Journal of Shistvan, Setting of the Old Sun,_ all that.

I gobbled that stuff up. It was just so... so _fascinating_. I used to doodle Rabotevs during school and watch pirated fithp movies with my friends. We used to draw markers on our faces and pretended to be Hallessi and Race, like cops and robbers.

 **Q: I must admit surprise at its prevalence. Wasn't there still a strong anti-alien sentiment at the time?**

A: Oh, trust me. Lots of my friends didn't join in, because their parents didn't want them to. Idiots used to repeat stupid stuff about how the aliens were all evil, all out to get us.

But the thing is, I was barely a toddler when the war ended. I don't remember Landing Day, or Footfall. Growing up, I _knew_ the aliens did bad things, but I didn't _see_ bad things. It was an objective thing, devoid of the feelings that the older folks had. Plus, we didn't get hit by the war, not really. A broken damn here and there, but otherwise we had been left alone. Combine that with the whole forgiveness narrative the UN was pushing for, and it wasn't quite as vicious.

I mean, lots of old folk were super racist, but they were super racist against everyone, so...

They were never devils or invaders to me. Without the war to cloud it, I just had my natural curiosity, and they are just _so_ interesting to a kid. The eye turrets, the scales, the way they talk... the fact they talk alone was crazy to eight year old me. Their painted faces reminded me of the masks our country used to do in theatre, you know? Lakhon khol, lakhol pol srey... we used to do them. But they've been dying a slow death, going the way of the dodo or alligator.

I felt the same interest with the fithp, especially considering how ingrained the elephant is. Kids in previous generations only had one species to learn about, but we had _four_ others. And I wanted to know everything I could about them.

 **Q: What in particular do you find fascinating about it?**

A: Oh, the paint definitely drew my eye.

 _She laughs again, gesturing at her body._

But if we want to be more serious, I'd have to go with the... implied quiet. It's... it's hard to put into words. When the Race write characters, they always assume the best about people. There's scenes, constantly in their books and holomovies, of people offering levels of trust and hospitality you'd _never_ see here on Earth. Just letting random strangers into their homes, helping each other... and it's not something they make a big deal out of, either. It's just something they _do_.

It's something abstract to us. We know it, but we don't _understand_ it. The idea that there's just some planet out there, where every street is clean, everyone has a home , and every neighbor is a good neighbor, even if they aren't _nice_ neighbors. Not an empty belly or beggar on that 's a sense of community there that we don't get here, a sense that everyone on Home is almost like one big happy family.

Seeing it as an outsider, it's oddly comforting.

The fithp have something else. Not exactly one big family, since they all have their own families. But they have this unique sense of their cultural youth, that gives them such a wry vitality to their art. The sense of being explorers of a brave new world, while also being new arrivals in someone else's house. The fact that they're trying to make themselves a culture has, ironically enough, become a part of their culture. There's also the fact that they are inheritors of someone else's legacy, you know? It's the biggest question for them, something that drives so much of their philosophy and artwork. Everyone wonders about their origins and place in the universe, but God didn't leave _us_ blueprints for a starship.

 **Q: So what drove you to start this theater?**

A: Well... I did often feel ostracized for my interests while growing up. I had friends who liked the same things, but that didn't stop people from calling us weirdos, judging us for what we like.

It's garbage thinking. What, it's suddenly cool to _hate_ cultural exploration and mingling when it's from another planet? Assholes constantly spout trash about how it's 'tainting' human cultures. Know what's my response to that?

 **Q: What?**

A: An 'untouched' culture _does not exist_. It's a myth. A fairy tale. _Mimes a bird flying off_. Cultures don't just suddenly pop out of the ground wholesale. It's made from influencing others and being influenced by others. Those Japanese ultranationalists talking about 'protecting their culture'? Where the fuck did they get tea from, hmm? And on that same note, Chinese acting all defensive about their culture seem to forget that the majority of them follow an Indian religion and were influenced by outsiders, from Mongols to Manchus.

Don't get me wrong. It's one thing to shove another culture down someone's throat, or to take it. But the idea that we have to live our lives in these little closed confines of 'culture' is bullshit.

That's why I started the theater, really. To show people like me that there was a place where they could be themselves, and do what they loved. It's not just looking at someone else's culture and saying 'neat'. It's resonating with a way of life, appreciating the beauty and philosophy behind it. Blending it with what you already have. Our plays reflect that. We don't just do Race plays and Fithp plays. We do Race adaptations of human plays, and multi-species projects. We inject Lakota and Khmer and Yoruba into Fithp stories, tweaking and re-interpreting and _creating_.

Because that's what we do, every day. These seemingly static cultures are founded on creation. It's something that adds to our lives, enriching it and creating more opportunities for more creation in the future.

 _She then pointedly glances at some of the dancers getting ready for the next showing. I notice that their masks are in a style heavily reminiscent of traditional Cambodian lakhon khol and lakhon pol srey._

And sometimes, it also helps us preserve the past.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _ **You have been reading:**_

 _ **Worldfall, Chapter Nineteen: Ups and Downs**_


	20. Chapter 20

**Kuftinkoorfith-thuktun I**

 _After arriving at Amadioha-1, I depart almost immediately afterwards, switching to a human transport. I have already been pre-screened for weapons or other forbidden materials, and so the shuttle is allowed to immediately rendezvous with the Thuktun Flishithy, located in geosynchronous orbit. The three warships guarding it authenticate our signal and permit the final approach, after which I am thoroughly scrubbed down and made to wear a hazmat suit._

 _Once the preparations are finished, I am finally ushered down the long curving hallways of what had carried a people across the stars. It remains by far the largest spacecraft in history, dwarfing even human orbital habitats. Eventually, I am escorted to what has been nicknamed the Ninth Wonder of the World. A smooth-cut stone of size comparable to a skyscraper, shining like silver in the ship's internal lighting._

 _I am so preoccupied staring at it that I fail to recognize my interviewee until a quartet of tentacles wave in my face. I turn to see a younger-looking fi', though still bearing the distinct features that is found in all spaceborn._

A: Loremaster?

 **Q: I apologize, Loremaster Kuftinkoorfith-thuktun. It is simply an astounding sight.**

A: It always is. You are here to question me, yes?

 **Q: Indeed. Now, how was it that you came to be involved in the international research of the thuktunthp?**

A: I had served as an apprentice to Loremaster Fistarteh-thuktun as an adolescent, starting two years before the war. When the war ended, and the Nation was established, however, my teacher found himself mated to different endeavors. Advising the Herdmistress, reforming the education system, and other such projects. As such, he was unable to attend to his duties regarding the thuktunthp, and he named me his successor.

When the herds of Winterhome made the agreement to study the stones together, I therefore became the fithp representative to the project. After all, I was the second most qualified researcher for the job- the scientists that came here were reliant on me to educate them.

 **Q: When did the international research begin in earnest?**

A: Two years after the end of the war. I had continued my work during that time. It was tedious, but ultimately calm work, to meticulously translate the etchings and pull upon images from earlier stones in order to develop a working understanding.

Soon, however, it became hectic. Instead of an octuplet of assistants, I had _twelve_ octuplets' worth of researchers who thought themselves my equals, or even superiors. The silence of the room became a cacophony of squawking and bickering, with at least eight octuplets worth of Winterhome-made computer screens open as they pored over the images and bickered over how to solve our many issues.

 **Q: Issues?**

A: It took many days to overcome the compatibility issues between human machines and our own. A... what was it? Pisi? Pisis and Fruits were not made to download files from an alien machine.

Then, some tried to argue for taking the stone itself apart, or at least engage in intrusive probing, once they had gotten all the photographs and microscopic analysis completed. They were quite irreverent of the thuktunthp.

I voiced my disagreement.

 **Q: I presume you won?**

A: One of them made the mistake of denigrating my role, calling me a glorified witch-doctor who had never heard of the scientific method. I responded by sitting on him.

 _He makes an amused snort._

The scientists coordinated more closely together after that, and I must admit they were respectful from thereon. Who says the old ways don't have their uses at times?

It was when I asserted myself as the proper Loremaster that we finally made progress. I must commend human computers for their absurd processing power. It had been painstaking to analyze the stones beforehand.

 **Q: How so?**

A: Nearly every single diagram, every symbol, every last bit of information on the thuktun requires intensive keys and legends from the prior thuktun, which in turns require keys and legends from the previous thuktun, and so on. An unending chain, from first to last. We had discovered eighty thuktunthp before this last one, and considering the sheer amount of information even one can hold, we had been faced with up to a century of research before the war.

Human computers, however, could utilize the keys far faster than our own. They had done more to unearth the stone's secrets in six weeks than what had taken me my entire career to accomplish.

 **Q: Is that what made the** ** _Ramesses-Hatušilliš_** **mission possible?**

A: Interstellar travel had been possible the moment humanity got their hands on a Race starship. They wanted to build their own, however, to show just how far they had advanced from the sword-swinging savages the probe had seen. But yes, the research was what allowed for the higher performances of the engines, as well as sufficient radiation shielding for such relativistic travel, even if the deathsleep technology and other such systems were independently human-made.

Even more effective drives may be possible yet. We have still not even decoded a third of the stone, even after twenty years. Some of what we have seen promises something astounding, but we must not arrive at conclusions.

Nevertheless, the bounty has been fruitful. It is because of our research that much of the fleet's weapons have been made possible, as well as the probes scattered across the stars.

 _His ears droop, and his trunk curls towards his mouth._

Including my own.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Paulson III**

 **Q: To my knowledge, space telescopes meant to replace the Hubble were in Lagrange points as early as 2023. Were they with the express purpose of finding Hearth and the Race's worlds?**

A: No. They were for the express purpose of continuing our research of the cosmos. Not everything had to be related to the war, you know.

 _She purses her lips._

Of course, considering that their worlds _are_ part of the cosmos, it was only natural that we also studied them. Still, I wouldn't call it _finding_ them. Harpanet spilled the details as soon as we got our hands on him, and we'd had a good idea of where the Race was coming from even before the war began, let alone after we accessed their navigational charts.

Still, it was a good idea to confirm their positions. It'd be important to know if we could precisely locate their planets, considering that you'd need _very_ good aim to maintain communications with probes or crewed starships over that kind of distance. Plus, we were keen on seeing if we had any more, ah, neighbors.

I mean, seriously. Four species within twelve light years of Earth, five if you count the Precursors or Forerunners or whatever you want to call the guys who lived on Hearth before the fithp did. That is _insane_. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that it happened, the idea of two of those species invading us at the same time would be _fucking ridiculous._ It's like winning the lottery a third time in the row while getting struck by lightning levels of unlikely.

The fact that we'd somehow missed an intelligent civilization at our closest star system showed just how blind we must have been. We needed to rapidly improve our understanding of our celestial neighborhood. Not just because of aliens, you see. But to answer all the questions the war raised.

 **Q: How effective was the program?**

A: Well, we managed to find all four worlds, as well as a glut of terrestrial planets in their stars' habitable zones. Not that it was easy. Finding planets around other stars isn't like finding planets in our solar system, in that you can't just directly look for the planet. Trying to find Hearth directly would have been like trying to find something the size of a period between two lightbulbs. Oh, and the lightbulbs are in Washington DC while you're in Boston.

You have to look indirectly, noting the faint shift in brightness as the planet passes in front of the star, which also allows us to analyze the atmosphere via spectrometers. We'd found lots of exoplanets even before the war, but our new telescopes made the work considerably easier. By the end of the year, we'd found Hearth, and even confirmed the existence of water vapor and oxygen in the atmosphere. Finding Home, Rabotev, and Halless took another three months.

 **Q: Was that when the _Schiaparelli_ mission was approved?**

A: They were already building the probes; it's just that we finally knew _exactly_ where to aim it. It only launched a year before the big one, actually. I was involved in tracking it and maintaining communications as it made its way to Hearth. Took eight and a half years to get there, and another four and a third to get information back. It's a drain, waiting close to thirteen years to get pictures back.

Still, it was important. Fithp populations were apparently much smaller than ours, considering that they managed to fit an entire nation's worth into _Flishithy_ , but their technology was more than enough to make us worry. A herd in a single ship, with tech at least sixty years behind the winner back home, was able to fight an entire _planet_. We had no idea if the winning herd had found any more of those stones, or were even sending their own invasion fleet with souped-up weapons our way.

That's why we went full Race in terms of probing. Orbiting satellites, rovers, drones... we wanted to make _sure_ just what we were dealing with.

 **Q: What were your reactions to the results?**

A: _Horror._ I don't care about the warmongers who were actually disappointed they couldn't get payback, or the sickos who were happy. When we realized what had happened, I got plastered that night.

I mean, what sane person wouldn't be, when they found out an entire world had died? The probes spent two years recording data on that planet, and we couldn't find _any_ signs of a surviving fithp civilization. Not a continent spanning civilization, not countries, not cities, not even _nomadic herds_. Just abandoned settlements and what may have been farmland.

 **Q: What are the prevailing theories on what happened?**

A: We knew they had experimented with bioweapons meant to kill feed grass, and we knew their planet's ecology was far from the best, but we still don't know what _exactly_ killed them. Precisely because A) we don't know the extent of ecological damage the old owners had done before they went, and B) it's been a good sixty, seventy years since they died. If it was a bioweapon, it probably died out with the grasses it killed, and if it was ecological collapse, then it must have recovered somewhat during those long years.

All we know is that the fithp there were dead long enough to completely decompose, the planet has no sign of nuclear war or outside attack, and it's _empty_. There's still a working ecosystem, but no sign of intelligent life.

People have their crazier theories, of course. Some say they ascended to another level, following the Predecessors. Some say they packed up shop as well and are probably en route to Rabotev. Some say Jesus.

Me? I think they died from going down the same path they'd been walking for all their history. People sometimes forget that the herd that came here were basically bronze age people with nukes before they were hit with the greatest culture shock in, well, ever. They may have been smart enough to decipher the stones and make wonders, but they weren't _wise enough_.

We developed naturally with our tech, and we nearly offed ourselves through pollution and the threat of nuclear war. Now imagine what a species with the sensibilities of hunter gatherers would do, especially on a planet that was already damaged. The specifics will probably never be known, but I don't think you need to know them to understand why they died.

They died because their cleverness exceeded their wisdom.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **du Jonchere IV**

 **Q: When exactly was the diplomatic mission to Home agreed upon?**

A: Technically speaking? I can't say. There'd been talks for a long while, even as early as the December negotiations. The idea of making the long flight to another star was mainly considered a pipe dream, a distant goal that we wouldn't have to seriously work towards.

But as the war went on, a diplomatic mission to Home hit the table with more force when Atvar defected. Now, we had a chance of friendly access to spaceflight technology wildly beyond our own. I wasn't part of the meeting, you understand- it was more of an executive and military matter. I don't know when it was suggested, and I don't know who was behind the wartime agreement.

 **Q: When did you become involved?**

A: The project was officially ratified by the UN, the Fithp Nation, and the Race during the Manhattan Conference. By then, we knew that radio news of the war's outcome would be hitting Home in twelve years, and there was no telling how Home would react. There was a fear that the Emperor, due to the extreme detachment from the issue, might order the war to resume without really understanding the implications.

 **Q: The Race would have continued the war if the Emperor commanded them, even two decades after the Armistice?**

A: There's no telling. The Emperor seems to hold a place in the Race's psyche even greater than that of the Japanese Emperor had before WWII. The Emperor is the embodiment of all that is good in the Race, the ultimate voice of authority. In a culture without families, without parents, the Emperor is the closest thing they have to a father.

But, this war was nothing like they'd seen before. I have no idea the extent of their disillusionment, especially after twenty years here. Some may ignore the Emperor. Some may fight, even knowing their odds, just so they can die without disobeying him. But they _all_ acknowledge that they would die if the Emperor gave the word to continue. So, they were naturally keen on convincing the Emperor to _not_ give that order.

 **Q: What did the ratification detail?**

A: Firstly, that the mission to Home would be peaceful. A diplomatic envoy, not an invasion. Secondly, that the project would be a multinational one, with all who signed the Armistice contributing to the project, much like the Force. And thirdly, the delegation sent would also be a multinational one. When Humankind arrives at Home, they will not speak as Americans or Chinese or Nepali. They will speak as one voice, just as the Race speaks as one.

 **Q: What about the Race and Fithp?**

A: It was agreed that the Race would send some of their own along with the delegation, to show that we had made peace with the remnants of the Conquest Fleet. Likewise, as a signatory state, the Fithp Nation would also send representatives. They're here to stay, after all, and what affects us will affect them as well.

The delegation matter took a while to resolve. I was considered to represent my nation, but I ultimately declined. I have a family here, after all. Leaving them behind for decades did not sound appealing to me.

Still, I kept a close eye on the developments. I'm a diplomat, after all- how could I ignore the greatest diplomatic mission in history?

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Johnson IV**

 _Finishing the last of his vegetable smoothie, Johnson slides the glass away and tents his hands._

A: You look like you have more questions.

 **Q: I was hoping to ask you about your participation in the _Homeward Bound_ project.**

A: Ah. I do suppose I have a lot to offer there. Now, you must remember that I'm an astronaut, not a physicist or engineer. I may be pretty well-educated in those fields, but I was not involved in the technology department of that project.

It was about three months after the war that I got approached for the project. After all, I'd been part of a highly classified and important project for six years with superb results, and I was trained in the key fields.

 **Q: What were your contributions?**

A: Similar to Project Archangel- think tank member and honorary guinea pig. I consulted with the engineers who were designing the habitable sections of the _Ramesses-Hatusillis_ , particularly the cockpit and landing craft, and I even did test flights for the latter. I was also in the running-up for the crew, actually, and so I was doing mock mission runs with the other potential candidates.

 **Q: Why weren't you selected for the mission?**

A: About three years into the project came the testing with the suspended animation technology we were developing for the flight. As it turns out, I had a bad allergy to something in the antifreeze they basically replace our blood with. Thank god they found out during the blood work, otherwise I probably wouldn't be here.

I stayed on the project afterwards, of course. Even if I wasn't going, I was still valuable as an instructor and consultant. There was even a hope that a new drug could be developed, but that proved to be too late. The mission was two years in when they finally developed an alternate antifreeze for people with my kind of allergy.

I must admit, I wonder to this day whether I'm disappointed to go, or relieved.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Khosarani II**

 **Q: Were you involved in Project Homeward Bound?**

A: Not for the first three years- I was still in training. But yes, I worked as a tug pilot as we built the _Ramesses-Hatusillis._ By then, most of the framework had been completed in lunar orbit, but there was still a lot more to go. We needed to finish building the habitable sections, the solar arrays to gather power, the laser, and a dozen other things.

I spent a lot of time on the Moon during that time. The fithp had left a handful of solar energy collectors and processing plants on the surface, which was where they had manufactured more flying crowbars for the war. We expanded on those considerably, _and_ rapidly. The Moon's rich in titanium, helium-3, and plenty of other materials vital to spaceflight.

 **Q: How was any of this possible, so soon after the war?**

A: Well, it wasn't like we were doing this on our lonesome. We had fithp digit ships doing a lot of the grunt jobs at first, and the Race was helpful with work in Earth orbit. We could move tens of thousands of tons worth of material daily with those starships, and premade at that, instead of having to piece them together bit by bit via small rocket launches. The old ISS took, what, sixteen years to make, despite being only 419 tons. You could literally fit a dozen of those in an old Conquest Fleet ship.

And the developments were only getting better with time, as we took apart fithp and Race tech and studied the Big Rock. We could have increasingly more advanced tech made with increasingly greater degrees of automation, and in increasingly greater quantities. Getting our hands on effective fusion power tripled global energy output in a single year, and again the year after that. We went from a handful of sites only launching chemical rockets to dozens of spaceports that could send massive laser-propelled craft up.

So, to answer your question, it wasn't as impossible as it seemed. I cannot stress enough the advances we were making. It wasn't just copying down the Race's homework while borrowing the Fithp's textbooks. It was applying their knowledge and theories to our own sciences, sciences whose funding skyrocketed. In essence, something greater than the sum of its parts, creating a snowball effect.

 **Q: How much did Project _Homeward Bound_ rely on independent innovations?**

A: Much more than some might suspect. If we wanted to send a mission that matched the initial goals we set up in Manhattan, just using a Race starship wouldn't have cut it. Ignoring the fact that we wanted to make our own ship to impress a message on Home, a twenty year flight would have meant only getting a reply back from Home by 2056 or so, and that's ignoring the fact that we'd have to repurpose almost everything in a Race ship, since they weren't designed with large clawless apes that can only look in one direction at a time in mind, which would probably extend the mission to 2060 or even 2065.

We wanted to shave as much time off as humanly possible, and so we needed to _outperform_ either the Race or fithp's ships. If not in every way, if not consistently, then at least in a way that would allow a swift diplomatic mission. From what we had gathered from the Big Rock, plus our own research, we had found a way to make a ramscoop that exceeded the fithp design.

 **Q: How so?**

A: The _Flishithy's_ design was a more primitive type of ramscoop. They had managed something more along the lines of a RAIR-type engine, which circumvented the issue of trying to accomplish proton-proton fusion, but they still had to deal with drag. It's why it took them more than sixty years to get to here from Alpha Centauri.

The ramscoop we managed to develop managed to defeat the drag problem, basically turning it into a scramjet rather than a ramjet. From what I've heard, that development had plenty of scientists in conniption fits. Whoever the Predecessors were, they sure did know how to make starships.

Still, we wanted _faster_. Since getting there was more important than the return trip when it came to time-crunching, it was decided that the greater part of the initial acceleration would be done more early into the flight.

 **Q: Is that why the laser was built?**

A: Yes. It was a way of ensuring both a lower degree of mechanical failure, as well as speeding the flight up. Plus, it could be constructed to be gradually larger, rather than all at once. Still, the power requirements were absurd, hence the need for the orbital solar arrays. I cannot stress enough the power requirements- if we had gone wholly for a sail-based flight, we would have required a sail the size of Texas and a 43-terawatt laser.

All in all, it's quite a complex mission. First, you had the booster stage, which was essentially a higher-thrust but lower-impulse version of a Race fusion engine turned to full throttle, followed by the sail pushing it all the way to the Oort Cloud as the ship's fusion drive powered on, then the ramscoop activating.

Complex? Yes. But faster? _Definitely_. I'm sure it's going to give the Emperor quite the scare when he sees it coming. Allah willing, I'd give both kidneys for a picture of that moment when he realizes that _we_ just became the Outside Context Problem.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Joshi XI**

 _For a few moments, Joshi stares at the night sky, her gaze focused on a single bright point among the stars. Her eyes glisten, and she looks away, wiping away with the back of her hand._

 **Q: I'm sure this is a difficult discussion matter.**

A: I'm fine. I've dealt with worse, trust me.

 _She inhales deeply._

It was something we talked about for the longest time. As Herdmistress, I kept tabs on construction daily, and was an active participant in the think tanks. After all, the _thuktun_ was technically kind of, er, mine. I knew that, eventually, I would need to select the delegation, even though I was desperately hoping that I wouldn't have to send the delegation I sent.

 **Q: Why didn't you go with him?**

A: I still had a nation to run, remember? Even if I was already in the process of preparing the transition of power, I couldn't just go gallivanting off to Tau Ceti, not when I had ten million constituents to protect from a world that still had the scars of the war.

 _She snorts._

Besides, they were worried that having the woman who technically ended their invasion and broke a Fleetlord's ribs wouldn't be good for easing relations. Someone even made a political cartoon of me stomping on the Emperor's chest and loudly yelling that I was now to be called Super-Herdmistress-Empress Joshi.

 **Q: So why did Chris ultimately join the fithp delegation?**

A: I needed someone I could trust on that ship. Someone I knew as well as I knew myself, and someone who had the chops for it. It's why Atvar sent Kirel to lead the Conquest Fleet's representatives. That particular Shiplord may be as flexible as a stick bug, but he's a high-ranking officer that can be _trusted_.

I know Chris better than just about anyone- I should be, considering I married him. And he's an amazing diplomat when it comes to the Race. Not only is he sharp, but he can get inside their head and understand them, without all the pain of the war getting in the way. He managed to get us to work together when we were POWs on the _Flishithy_ , and I'm sure he can get us to work together at Home.

But another reason was that Chris is _human_. There will certainly be subtle power plays when they get to Home, and my fithp are at a disadvantage when it comes to that. Plukoolinginth and Chipitimnang are good diplomats, but I fear that they would have been metaphorically eaten alive if Chris didn't go with them. He _had_ to go to Home with them, to ensure that a fair agreement between _all_ of us is reached.

And yet... and yet... if I had the power to have him back in my arms again, right here, right now...

 _She falls silent, studying the ground at her feet. Then, after some time, she looks back at the sky._

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 ** _You have been reading:_**

 ** _Worldfall, Chapter Twenty: Reaching Out_**


	21. Chapter 21

**Interviewer's Note: As I began to conclude my interviews, I asked all of my subjects three questions. Many were quite redundant, naturally, but I nevertheless managed to group all of them into three groups, based on which question they had the best answer to.**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Closing Question Number 1: What do you think will happen with the Colonziation Fleet?**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _Yeager frowns for a moment, then takes a long draw of his iced tea._

A: That's... a difficult question to answer. The only official policy is that their safety is to be ensured; that's what the initial agreement with Atvar stated, and the Armistice solidified it. But I'm no longer an official part of the decision-making, and I have no idea what the closed-door meetings have been discussing for the past year.

-/-\\-

 _Chandrasekhar sputters, then rubs his forehead._

A: I know there's a few, er, radicals in my nation calling for the destruction or, well, _appropriation_ of the colonists, but don't believe they represent us. Despite having been retired for some time, I can assure you that this nation will honor the Armistice. After so much pain and suffering, I think most of us just want to move on, not engage in more senseless death.

-/-\\-

 _Ussmak lets out an angered hiss._

A: If you ask me, you filthy Big Uglies are just gonna crack the ships open like ration cans before they even clear Tosev Five's orbit. That, or make them colonial subjects or even slaves. You monsters slaughter your own for pellet-poor reasons, engaging in horrific depravities, and we hit you with an asteroid. You really think you're just gonna _forgive_ us and act like buddies to the colonists after that?

-/-\\-

 _Jager drums his fingers on the table._

A: We're definitely not going to harm them, but I can't see us actually allowing them to settle. The infrastructure issues of allowing a hundred million people to settle here alone would be quite problematic. The only good real estate are places that had been occupied by the Race during the war, and I can't imagine the people in those regions would be happy to deal with millions of settlers from a very different culture, especially considering they had experienced colonialism in the century before.

Problem is, I have no idea what we would do instead.

-/-\\-

 _Gorrpet scratches his neck scales, then laps up more ginger._

A: Dunno. I hear rumors they're gonna be sent back. Can't imagine that'd be good for the negotiations, though. Home runs on carefully managed economic policies, and a rejected Colonization Fleet would hit that like a brick to the cloaca.

I know Darfur's offering citizenship to them, but even that has limits. It's a tiny place. Nice, but tiny. You really think they'd want to be a minority in their own nation? You'd be lucky to fit eight million here, which leaves more than ninety million colonists with no place to go.

Honestly, it's scary to think about. Is Home gonna collapse because of that? Can the ships even make it there? Are they just gonna be shuffled off to Rabotev and Halless...

 _He pauses, then finishes the vial of ginger._

-/-\\-

 _Machado grimaces._

A: Oh, I sure as hell hope they don't land. Don't get me wrong, I think it's stupid to act like a few settlers are gonna be the end of human independence, especially considering we don't give the fithp half of that trouble. My concern's ecological.

Invasive species from the same biosphere have wreaked havoc on the world- now imagine invasive species from a planet that evolved independently of us for billions of years. It's why we checked the fithp colonists intensively before they could land, and why the Flishithy's basically quarantined. Can't have their plants and animals out-competing ours.

Keeping a single ship with a million colonists aboard from contaminating the ecosystem was _really_ hard. We're lucky the gut flora and skin bacteria haven't posed any real problems. But a fleet of a hundred million colonists, who are far less ecologically-minded than us, carrying their own crops and pets and beasts of burden? No, no, _no_. I spent the last twenty six years keeping this planet's wildlife safe and even making it greener, and I won't let some self-centered settlers ruin things.

-/-\\-

 _Vesstil only pauses a half-moment before speaking._

A: I think it's gonna be a weird mixed-package deal. We've been drafting up plans for refueling the Fleet, but it'd be a closely-watched operation. Remember, we can't go a claw over the line in the sand they drew. They'd probably have half the warfleet escort us to the Kuiper Belt or something. Maybe not. Maybe they'd make us cram into as few ships as possible, to reduce the risks in their eyes. I think a few of the colonists will stay here, you know? Maybe apply for citizenship in Australia or something, maybe cram into the Free Zones.

There's also the other planets. Sprinkle a few on Mars, a few in the asteroids, send some to Rabotev and Halless... I think some politician suggested a joint-species colonization of Hearth.

Honestly, though? I have no clue.

-/-\\-

 _Harpanet rubs his ears in thought._

A: We are of conflicting opinions. A few rogues call for destruction, but the vast majority of us disagree, citing the Armistice. However, that does not mean we all have the same ideas for how the colonists will be handled. I have called for the confiscation of the Fleet's ships, and absorbing the Race Herd's colonists into our own herds. Perhaps proportional to our herds' populations. Twenty million scattered across China, twenty five million across India, and so on.

The American Herdmistress disagrees. She believes that such treatment would only exacerbate tensions, and that they will simply send the Fleet back. The other advisers are split between agreeing with her, or trying to convince her to absorb the Fleet, or perhaps absorbing some and sending the others to other worlds.

Only time shall tell who prevails.

-/-\\-

 _Kong shakes his head._

A: They're not coming here. We do not even allow them to visit our capital, the capital they tried to seize. Why should we dishonor the dead who fought to secure our nation's sovereignty by allowing settlers?

-/-\\-

 _Khosarani's lips set into a thin line._

A: The Fleet is a headache. If we send them back, there remains the risk of someone using a ship as a KKV after they hear about Straha and the war. They could start the burn in the Kuiper Belt, and hit us with enough force to render us lifeless.

Do I think that will happen? Almost certainly not. They're unarmed ships filled with civilians- do you really think the people aboard would be willing to get turned to hot plasma for intangible, vague reasons that they can scarcely believe? I don't think so.

But again, _almost_. This entire force exists for the 'almost'.

-/-\\-

 _Petrikov downs his tea._

A: The ships will be safe, but otherwise I have no clue. Aside from the humanitarian reasons, as well as keeping our word, destroying the Colonization Fleet would officially reopen the war. Instead of a planetary conflict, however, we'd be looking at an _interstellar_ war. The sheer costs involved would almost certainly necessitate kinetic kill vehicles, considering the issues involved with trying to decelerate a war fleet into a hostile system. Why risk that much time, effort, and resources, when you could just send a single ship near light speed and do far more damage?

We may be more advanced, yes, and considerably at that. We have potential countermeasures to relativistic weaponry. But, _but_ , so were the Americans more advanced than my own country during the Cold War. In 1950, they had three hundred warheads, and we had five. In 1960, they had eighteen thousand warheads, and we had only two hundred.

And yet, even then, the leaders ignored the warhawks who claimed they could 'wipe the enemy out' with minimal casualties. There are too many risks, too many variables. Having more warheads than the enemy meant nothing if the enemy still had enough to destroy you, and the countermeasures involved would be too unreliable. Losing only half of your people when the enemy lost five sixths is still no victory.

There is no such thing as 'winning' a nuclear war, and that has carried over to the stars. Anything would be preferable to such a war, and if that means some concessions regarding the Colonization Fleet, then so be it. They already have the biggest crisis in their history coming their way, after all.

-/-\\-

 _Jeong takes a sip of his soju._

A: I would like to think we'd give at least some of them a chance to live here. This is a world of many freedoms, freedoms they have never experienced, and as one who has lived under the yoke, it would be hypocritical to deny them that same chance for liberty. By letting them live here, we can introduce change to the Race at large, not just their soldiers.

Not just change, but _positive_ change. If Home sees the colonists living better lives here, mightn't it help promote peace between our worlds? Or even, show that maybe there's a better way of life? If the colonists thrive thanks to our ways, then perhaps the others will follow suit, and clamor for an end to our hostilities.

That, I feel, would be more effective than _any_ weapon.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Closing Question Number 2: Do you think peace with Home is possible?**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _du Jonchere pauses as we leave the museum._

A: Our worlds are... different. It's obvious, but sometimes we acknowledge it too quickly without properly digesting that. It's been twenty long years since that fateful time, and so sometimes we forget what the Race was like before they were, for lack of a better word, _humbled_ by the war. They have been viewing things the same way since before Man even migrated Europe and the Americas.

In order for diplomacy to be possible, the Race at Home will have to overcome millennia of extreme cultural ethnocentrism, and this war is a shock they may not be able to overcome.

But... as we have seen, they can be capable of making that jump, of engaging us in talks. Personally? I am hopeful that the physical presence of the _Ramesses-Hatusillis_ will finally drive that change home, and there can peace between us. Enough blood has been shed already.

-/-\\-

 _Traore chews a sweet absentmindedly, fingers tented._

A: Do you ever think about how astonishing it is, that we can speak each other's languages? Oh, I know we have our physical difficulties, but I am talking about comprehensibility. Our biology and social structures are all quite different from each other, developed independently on alien worlds light years apart, and yet our languages still work very much the same way. There are no major conceptual obstacles for Race, Hallessi, Rabotevs, Fithp, or us humans to understand each others' ways of speaking.

What does this mean? It would have been a curious coincidence if that were the case for us and the Race, but for _five_ species? Perhaps it is a sign that as an animal species becomes sentient, it begins to think in increasingly similar ways to other sentient animal species, and so our languages can be understood.

We think more similarly than we may admit. And it is because of that, I believe, that the gap between man and alien can be bridged, and peace can be obtained.

-/-\\-

 _Hakmon gives a shrug._

A: If you asked me when the war started, I would have said no. But after that night in Mecca, standing there as an Israeli, a Jew, shoulder to shoulder with men who had been trying to destroy my country just a few years before...

If peace happened there, why can't it happen here?

-/-\\-

 _Thapa puts the photos away, then suddenly produces his kukri. He studies the blade for a moment, then looks to me._

A: This is a crucial part of life in my homeland; this particular blade has been passed down my family line for generations, to be used for field work and utilities.

And yet, how is this known outside of my homeland? As nothing more than a weapon of war. In the eyes of foreigners, this is the tool of a brute, a savage that mutilates his enemies, one who is respected, feared, and yet also looked down upon.

 _He looks my way._

I, good sir, am not a war dog. We as a people are more than inscrutable warriors hiding in the mountains. Everyone knows of us Gorkhas, but who knows of Dishka dancing or our rich folklore?

But that is something that is changing. Gorkhas are fewer and fewer, as the advantages of becoming soldiers become less pronounced. My father was a Gorkha, and his father was a Gorkha. My son, however, is studying to be a doctor.

Why do I speak of this? It is because I believe that all of us are more capable of change than we believe. As time progresses, warriors can become men of peace, the hateful can become the loving, and the close-minded can become the free-thinking. If we are capable of such change, than who is to say that peace is impossible?

 _His gaze falls on the blade again._

Perhaps, in time... even the bloody history of this knife will be forgotten.

-/-\\-

 _Oyuunchimeg plays with the fingerclaws in her necklace._

A: Anger is a poison that drives the loving into hatred, of others and themselves. This poison must be discharged, but with what? I cannot say. Perhaps there will be peace... but I am not hopeful.

-/-\\-

 _Teerts and Perry look at each other._

A (Perry): We're roommates. I think that speaks for itself.

A (Teerts): We started the fight trying to kill each other, and now we watch K-Dramas in our pajamas together every weeknight. If we can do that, then Earth and Home can do it.

A (Perry): Soon, we will _all_ sit on that great cosmic couch and find out if Bong-Soon and Min-hyuk will get together... _together_.

-/-\\-

 _Tavares stirs his coffee slowly._

A: They killed millions of my people, pulled beautiful cities into the seas...

There will peace, I imagine; too much blood has been spilled. But _forgiveness?_ That will be for the generation after us.

-/-\\-

 _Johnson pauses to put away his glass, then turns back to me._

A: There're plenty of people out there who want to finish the fight. They're convinced we can destroy the Race worlds with relativistic kill vehicles, and defend against any counterattacks thanks to the massive propulsion laser we made for the _Homeward Bound_ project. Send a few starwisps right into the pathways of the kill vehicles, or even ablate them outright.

Personally, however, I disagree. Even if you don't want a proper peace with the Race, you can't have a war. Do you really want to risk billions of lives, the continued existence of your _people_ , on the effectiveness of countermeasures we could never test? Even missing one could be the end of us.

And even supposing we actually went ahead and survived the consequences, that sort of vicious us-them mentality only works if we're the only two polities out there. Which we are almost certainly _not_. Suppose another, _larger_ interstellar civilization sees us destroy the Race out of a _perceived_ threat, and decides to destroy us because we proved ourselves a _credible_ threat?

Just for the sake of our continuing safety, peace is still the preferable option. Even the hateful still have a survival instinct. And I think the Race will realize that as well. If not when they received the news about the war, then certainly when the _Ramesses-Hatusillis_ arrives.

-/-\\-

 _Shinifula finishes the rest of his taco._

A: I hope so, with all my liver. One battle was more than enough for me. Too many of us, all of us, have died at each others' hands.

And I must admit... I actually like it here. No. I _love_ it here. Back Home, everyone reads the same books, watches the same movies. The weather is always the same- dry and hot. Here, I can read books and watch movies that are so wildly different from each other it strains belief, eat foods from all sorts of cultures, and experience things I would never have found on Home. I enjoy listening to the thunderstorms in the summer, and that smell on the pavement when it rains... petrichor, I think.

This world is a world of change. Not just the people and the weather, but there's something in its bones that embody change, something that transforms whatever makes contact with it.

Who's to say that change won't come Home, and we can have peace?

-/-\\-

 _Drefsab excitedly takes note of a particularly large crocodile, then closes the notebook._

A: I hope for the best... but I expect the worst. All I can do is perform my duty well and enjoy my life until then.

-/-\\-

 _Saeed experimentally flexes his prosthetic arm, then calmly puts out his cigarillo._

A: I have flown alongside men who had been my nation's enemies, and even fought alongside those who had been invading our world. That happened in less than twelve weeks. Years of hatred can be washed away in a crucial moment. And there will be _many_ crucial moments in the years to come.

-/-\\-

 _Kim and Hideko look at each other, and smile warmly._

A: I think we're enough of an answer, don't you think?

-/-\\-

 _Almeida shrugs._

A: Dunno. No one hates each other more than people and other people, and we've finally managed to bury the hatchet. Something about the threat of mutual annihilation makes people suddenly snap out of it and start talking. I can see it happening there at Home.

-/-\\-

 _Birithart-yamp finishes his beer, then clambers out of his mudpit._

A: It's happened before, between Winterhome and my fithp. I do not see why it can't happen again.

-/-\\-

 _Atvar puts the brandy bottle away, then the projector. His eye turrets focus on me._

A: As Fleetlord, I had held multiple audiences with the Emperor. More than any here on this planet, I am familiar with the upper echelons of power in my people. The values of the Race rested on my shoulders as I carried it to this world, and so I understand the way Home will respond best to the developments.

We may be set in our ways, but given a large enough development, we can be capable of great change. It is how I came to this world to conquer it, and ultimately signed an armistice with it. In weeks, I went from treating you as uncivilized tribes, to viewing you as equals.

It will not be instantaneous. There will be years of deep deliberation and consideration, as the impact ripples through all worlds of the Race. Even the coming of the human ship will not make the decision-making as fast as even a conservative human nation.

But the Emperor is wise, and eventually he will come to the same conclusions as I did. In the face of all that has happened, he will agree to peace, for the sake of his people, and yours.

I know this, because even after everything, I have faith in my Emperor. It is that faith which gave me strength these past years, a faith that has held this Armistice together...

And a faith that shall not be broken.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Closing Question Number 3: Do you think the War ultimately changed the world for better, or for worse?**

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _Ibe finishes the rest of his soy milk and cups his chin, brow furrowed._

A: Ultimately? I must say that war often brings a myriad of social changes, and this case was no different. Paradoxically, it was the Race's own colonialist and imperialist attitudes that destroyed the last vestiges of neocolonialism on this continent, and helped usher in the resurgence of socialism. Before the war, only a sixth of humanity lived under communist ideology, and even those nations were still in the state capitalist stage, or even regressing as China had been doing.

But with the vast upheaval brought by the war, and the killing blows struck to the abusive industries here and in other nations, _and_ the influx of technology that makes our goals all the more attainable, has led to a great change. More than half the planet follows the belief that no one person or group of people should wield economic power over their fellows, with a degree of success never before seen. I know there are still many who frown at that ideal, conflating the word _communist_ with dictators and propaganda, but I think our living standards speak for that.

Africa is finally earning its spot on the world stage. The United West African Republics stand as the world's third strongest economy, only after China and India. No nation on this continent is now below an HDI of 0.88. We are becoming leaders in culture, industry, and the sciences.

Would that have been possible without the war? I doubt it. The act itself was atrocious, but like a forest fire, it burned away the old and made room for the new.

-/-\\-

 _Lee responds by hacking up a massive ball of phlegm and spitting into the bay._

A: Hell no. I would rather have those seventeen million countrymen back, and our status as number one to boot. We might be living real comfortably now, and we may still be the biggest military contributor, but Pax Americana died with the Foot. Now we got commies in Africa and the Middle East, the Soviets are back, and half the movies in the theater needs subtitles. We ain't even got Disneyworld no more. It's too much for an old man like me.

-/-\\-

 _Dkolo rattles the jewelry hanging from his thin wrists._

A: The losses were terrible, yes, and I don't envy the ones living on Home in the next few decades. But know what? If we'd done what we thought we were gonna do, we'd just be the same bland troopmales, camping out on a frigid wilderness of a planet for a few decades. Here, I'm _somebody_. I have access to good food, good music, and a pellet-load of other good things that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

If you ask me, a bad dip followed by an amazing climb is better than just a flat line. Home's gonna be in for a shock, but I think it'll come out of it even better than ever before.

 _He holds up his vial of ginger and shakes it._

And this is gonna be easing things along all the way.

-/-\\-

 _Perkins runs a hand through his hair._

A: I mean, it'd have been nice to _not_ get my home state become underwater property. But the opportunities that came with all that tech and social change... I think it helps I grew up into it. If I were even just five years older, I'd probably have a different opinion. But I don't, and that's what matters. Life's a big mess, and no one can figure it out, so I can't really say if it was a _good_ thing, or a _bad_ thing. It's...

It's complicated, but I think it leans towards a little better.

-/-\\-

 _Igoshin slaps his cheeks lightly, making a weird humming noise before suddenly straightening._

A: Maaaaaybe? Certainly sucked for my country, or should I say _countries_ now? But now I can go on tours to Iraq without worrying about being blown up. And the food's certainly gotten better. And the living standards are great. But I also spent five years standing on a border near Nizhny Novgorod.

Fucking shit, I don't know. Come back to me when we find out what the yascherit planet says.

-/-\\-

 _Ttomalss closes his laptop, claws clicking over his desk._

A: Many voice concern about what I mean when I say 'the true culture'. I've received many accusations of being a war apologist, between the numerous threats. Allow me to clarify that, and answer your question at the same time.

I have done a great deal of research into human culture, which includes a concept that I have found interesting- the Hegelian dialectic. A misnomer, considering that Hegel himself applied it to Kant, but nevertheless the idea stands. In this instance, I apply it to civilizations as a whole, in regard to their long-term survival.

Consider my own people. We are inherently a culture of deliberation and conservation. Not only conservation of ideals, naturally, but of _resources_. Home is a world with far less water, far less usable metal, and far less nutrition in its food. It, too, is a world where there is little change- weather fluctuations are far less pronounced, as our world has no tilt. The ancient peoples on Home who survived were the ones who carefully managed their crops and other resources, thinking for a great deal of time before attempting an improvement, as even a small mistake or waste could prove dangerous.

It allowed us to become a space-faring civilization without major ecological damage to our world- even before the Emperor unified us, our vehicles were hydrogen-fueled, and our recycling efficiency far exceeded yours. We are a civilization built to last, with social and industrial stability that has endured for fifty-thousand of your years. Even the pre-Conquest Rabotevs and Hallessi had a societal harmony exceeding your world, despite being in the bronze age.

But, it has made us a stagnant people, afraid of change even when the risks are small. Other civilizations could rapidly outstrip us in terms of technology, rendering us incredibly vulnerable, and even if war does not occur, we run the risk of having our opportunity for growth stifled as all the good worlds and systems around us are seized by younger, more adventurous powers.

Then we have you. A people who evolved on a far more forgiving world, where great change could be enacted and the failures would not be your end. You could experiment freely with new forms of weapons and farming and commerce, and technology grew at an exponential rate as a result. From Neolithic communities to brazen empires in a few thousand years, from those empires to industrial in half that time, and then from industrial to an interstellar power in mere _centuries_.

And yet, that same blind experimentation and forward leaping also brought you to the edge of ecological collapse, vast societal inequality, and the looming threat of self-destruction via all the horrific weapons you developed. If we had come twenty years later, we could have arrived to a radioactive graveyard, drowned in the melted ice caps.

In essence, the Race is the Thesis, and your world is the Antithesis.

A (Fistarteh-thuktun): You naturally neglect my people.

A (Ttomalss): The fithp are an oddity. A conservative culture living on a less-forgiving world, like mine, but they had access to a path granted by a people like the humans, and who presumably died to their own follies. And besides, now I clump the fithp in with Earth.

A (Fistarteh-thuktun): Of course you do. It makes your analogy all the easier. The Precursors may have very well survived the ruin of Hearth, and are now out there in the galaxy.

A (Ttomalss): You're distracting me. But, while on the topic of the Precursors, I suppose it only further illustrates my point. These lone worlds, as they set out, seem to have a limited life-span. Either they die to their own follies if they are like humanity, or they will eventually bump into a species and fail to adapt in time, dooming them still, much as how the Race has nearly done.

But in this instance, there is an opportunity for _Synthesis_ , the result of a clash between the Thesis and the Antithesis, which did not result in the destruction of either. Earth and Home both live yet, and now it seems we can finally synthesize. A culture capable of rapid advancement, but who does so _wisely_. A culture that can _truly_ survive in this galaxy.

 _That_ is what I mean by the 'true culture'. And that is my answer to your question.

A (Fistarteh-thuktun): I find his dialectic to be nonsense, but ultimately I agree with his opinion that the outcome of the war has been positive. My people have a world to call home, where they have access to new technologies and ideals that we may have never developed on our own. We had to change greatly, but ultimately that change made us stronger.

-/-\\-

 _Odaka frowns._

A: If it weren't for the fact that I personally saw all the awful pre-war stuff that got better... it'd be hard to tell from here. That slump hit us _hard_. All of our issues seemed to get exacerbated- the population decline, the economy issues, and especially the xenophobia and lingering nationalism. We went from the third biggest economy on the planet to the _eighteenth_ in less than ten years. Racist fuckwits called for closed borders and laws that persecuted our minorities, and through it all we lagged behind in terms of infrastructure.

Thank goodness things have been getting better. I think increasing global connectivity and friendlier relations with China really helped that. But I still won't forget those nasty years.

To answer your question? The world-traveler in me, the news photographer, says yes. The Japanese citizen in me, however... says no.

-/-\\-

 _Papadiamantpoulos looks out the window, staring across the glittering Aegean._

A: I suppose that it's much like the aftermath of the previous World War. A horrific conflict, full of tragedy, death, and anger. But, that war also brought about spaceflight, increasing globalization, the United Nations, decolonization, and the end of large-scale wars between human nations.

 _But_ , it also gave us the Cold War, neocolonialism, the mess of issues in the Middle East and Central America, and the ever-looming threat of nuclear annihilation. This war was no different. It gave us the stars, the end of neocolonialism, a reversal of ecological damage, and also the greatest body count in history, the Russian debacle, and a possible interstellar cold war.

Does one outweigh the other? I can't say; it's too big to judge.

-/-\\-

 _Kuftinkoorfith-thukun intertwines his tentacles._

A: The images from the probe are enough for me. The war gave us a world. It saved our people from extinction and gave it chances we didn't know possible.

If only it wasn't necessary.

-/-\\-

 _Keo turns back to me after directing the placement of the holoprojector._

A: Well, isn't that a loaded question, huh? Of course the war itself sucked. What kind of dick can say that the death of over a hundred million people and the destruction of beautiful cities is a 'good thing'? So let me get that out of the way- the war was a horrible, horrible thing.

But, even horrible things can lead to better times. All this meeting and meshing of ideas, of cultures enriching each other, would never have happened. Think about all the egalitarianism the Race injected into the places that needed it most, or the environmentalism of the fithp. It's... it's like putting a bunch of rough stones in the bag. They're gonna rub and grind against each other, all this horrible friction...

But in the end, they all come out polished because of that.

-/-\\-

 _Kilopaki laughs._

A: Aliens come here to surf, man! All I need to say about that.

-/-\\-

 _Emmaneulli scowls, the wrinkles on her face becoming even deeper._

A: No.

-/-\\-

 _Davidson shrugs as he closes his gradebook._

A: What does 'ultimately' mean? For the people who died in that war, it was 'ultimately' just destruction. For the people a hundred years from now, it might 'ultimately' be the reason why they live where they live. Speaking from my background? That's just about the most loaded question there is.

-/-\\-

 _Hu rises from the bench and rubs the back of her head._

A: How can I respond to that? My country threw off decades of oppression, opened up stronger relations with other nations, and now we're the biggest economy on Earth, or even off it. Life has never been better in this country, for so many of us. After centuries of slumping and war and pain, we're back on top, just like how we used to be for so much of the world's history.

But I wonder if we could have done it without the war, if it was an eventuality. Does all of this make up for Chongqing, or the Three Gorges Dam? Is the prosperity of a billion really worth the death of tens of millions?

 _She falls silent. Then, slowly, she walks away.  
_

-/-\\-

 _Rathbone twists his mustache, making it curlier than before as he thinks._

A: It would have been better if they all sat down to have a cuppa with us without getting the orbital canons out. Get the good bits without the nasty. But that is life, is it not? Things could have been a lot better, but they could have been even worse, what with the possibility of extinction for everyone. I am of the opinion this gave us a much-needed kick in the pants, while knocking those twits down a peg.

There might be blood on the floor, but we're all missing teeth, and so we can get up, move on, and walk forward with much-needed clarity of mind.

-/-\\-

 _Rasmussen makes an odd, rumbling sound, sounding like something resembling a hum._

A: The introduction of new technologies and the diasporas were all quite marvelous. If Europe wasn't finally at peace before that, it certainly is now. Makes the old Union look xenophobic, really. We have defanged Russians, an economy that is almost literally booming, and perhaps a final peace on Earth.

But, I do miss a lovely museum that had been in Barcelona.

-/-\\-

 _The cheery look behind Wang's eyes fade, and his smile disappears. Not replaced by a scowl or sneer, but a deeply mournful frown. Tears crowd the corners of his eyes._

A: My friend, you already know the answer.

-/-\\-

 _Sudarto places the camera back on his desk, and runs a hand through his short-cropped hair._

A: I suppose it's easy for me to say yes. The war didn't really hit my country, and now I'm living out my dream of exploring another world. None of us would have been on Mars like this if it weren't for the war. But, that doesn't mean I don't understand the way others feel; I see it in their eyes, the way they talk. There's no such thing as a 'good war'.

If we really want to find out, I think we may have to wait for another generation to answer that question.

-/-\\-

 _Muktitul-thith lets out an indignant trumpeting, then flattens her ears against her head._

A: It'd look bad for a politician to give certain answers, now wouldn't it? You must understand that while my people has benefited from the outcome, we cannot condone what happened. If we'd been willing to listen, we could have gotten our cake and eat it as well. We could have gotten where we've gotten, without fighting.

But, even if the war itself was decidedly a bad thing, it'd be a lie to say that the ramifications haven't benefited many peoples around the world, from the Darfuri to the now-liberated women in the Middle East, to the reunified Korea and the democratized China. And yes, my own. But that does not mean we can forget the deaths that came before that, darling. We lost a quarter of that population in that war, and you lost millions.

It's not enough to say that the war benefited people and leave it at that. We must understand its causes and impact, so we can avoid those same pitfalls as we strive forward to make sure all those who came before did not die in vain.

-/-\\-

 _Teegarden leans against the remains of an F-15, wiping the sweat from her forehead._

A: What can I say that hasn't been said before? It's a mixed thing. All I can say that I think can contribute is this: as awful as the war was, I think we needed the splash of cold water. Not just for planetary defense- I'm talking about the American mindset.

You know what was the deadliest war in American history before this one? The Civil War. Little more than half a million dead, and so long ago everyone who outright remembers it is pushing daisies. Even the Second World War didn't kill that many Americans.

That sense of security, compared to other countries... it can make you cocky. War-hungry. After all, the consequences are always half a world away, happening to foreigners. All you see stateside is a few flags over the doorways. But losing more than twenty million of your own people, with the carnage on your doorstep? It changes you. Makes you realize the costs of war.

Pax Americana didn't just die because of the damages done. It died because we lost our appetite for picking fights on the behalf of corporate interests, when we realized that money could be put to better things. Like education reform, and infrastructure reform, and all these other domestic issues we ignored because we decided to pump money into a grossly over-inflated military budget. This war fucked us in the short-term, but ultimately I think it saved us in the long run.

And you know what? I have a feeling the people who died to make the country safe would agree with that.

-/-\\-

 _Paulson scrunches her face up._

A: Call me again in four weeks when the Fleet arrives. And if we're still alive, call me again in four years, when we get the message back from Home.

-/-\\-

 _Nguyen makes an awkward face as he packs up his lunch._

A: I mean, I'd definitely argue it saved us from an ecological disaster that probably would've spelled the end of the human race. We pumped more money and effort into conservation in the running up to the war than we'd done in the past century.

But on the other hand... I mean... I honestly can't say.

-/-\\-

 _Wierzbowski and I clear a hill as we continue our walk. The state cemetery for those who died in the War, both military and civlian, stretches out before us, an expanse of white stones for as far as the eye can see._

A: I can't say it's all been bad, y'know? Reconstruction wasn't a walk in the fuckin' cake, but I have ta say things have never been better here. The infrastructure's state of the art, the houses are good, and everyone's finally eatin' well. We may not be top dogs no more, but that ain't meanin' we aren't a greater country, innit? I'd rather live here than just about anywhere else.

I guess it's like that sayin', y'know? Society get's better one coffin at a time.

 _He pauses, then stares out across the cemetery. A moment passes, and I see him wipe at his eyes._

But fer Christ's sake, did there have ta be so many coffins?

-/-\\-

 _Timpinlithchup pauses briefly, then sets down her script._

A: The war was... an inevitability. Our peoples were too diametrically opposed, either because of supreme arrogance, a narrow-minded naivete about the universe around us, or because of the threats we posed to each other. If we accept that inevitability, then yes. It is good the war ended the way it did. My people are not dead, nor are they outcasts among the asteroids, and neither are they slaves. We... are a free people. Free from the dogma that had nearly destroyed us, and free from alien tyranny.

And now, we can all live under this beautiful blue sky, and tell each other stories. If the Predecessors could see us, part of me hopes they would be proud of what we have become.

-/-\\-

 _Joshi looks away from the stars, and folds her hands across her lap. A moment passes in silence._

A: The fithp are thriving, flourishing in ways they would have thought impossible. There hasn't been a real war since then. Corruption, crime... all at all-time lows. We're spreading to other planets, and soon enough, the stars. Even the poorest countries are enjoying wealth and equality like the greatest pre-war countries. And it's entirely possible that all of our worlds will soon be at peace.

And yet... if I could give all of that up to see my family, my _home_... I'm not sure what I would do. It's selfish, and yet it's what makes us _people_.

I like to think of all of us as leaves on a pond. Floating, drifting along a million little small currents, going to better places or worse places. Sometimes, we sink below the water, and sometimes more leaves fall from the trees above and gently land on the surface of the pond.

The war was as though you got the biggest rock you could find, and you chucked it right into the middle of that pond. Now, countless leaves are pulled under, or splashed with water. Some of them sink immediately, and others sink slowly, as everyone dances wildly on the ripples. For a moment, it looks like we're all going under.

And then, the water calms again, and all seems good. But the currents from before are no longer there. Now, we float on different currents, and it seems that almost all of us are floating towards a better place. It wouldn't have happened without that splash, and yet that doesn't change the fact that so many leaves sank because of it. The throwing of that rock was an inherently violent action, and it's only because of luck that the ripples brought us to better waters.

 _She looks back skyward._

We should not have to rely on throwing rocks to enact change. And that's why he's there, and why I'm here. To keep us on those good currents, and make sure the waters remain calm.

-/-\\-

 _Wallafess and I stop at the entrance to the Free Zone. The Rabotev considers the question, then glances up at the sky._

A: Can any one person answer that question? Because that's who needs to answer it. People. Not nations, not planets, not even entire species. _People._ That's what we're really are. Doesn't matter if you're a tired old soldier from a colonized people, or some waitress in Hanoi; we're all just people trying to find our place in this weird universe. We group together because, well, sometimes we're born into that group, and we don't feel like changing. Sometimes, we don't have a choice. Sometimes, we pick who we side with, because we share those beliefs.

And sometimes, we just know life's better with company.

I think we realized that, all in that big fight, and Home's gonna realize it too. We're just a bunch of fucking atoms fighting over dust motes, making ourselves sound bigger than we really are. We make up these crazy reasons or mentalities to try to justify fighting each other, when we should all be clinging together like lone swimmers in an infinite ocean.

Because that's what we are. We seriously acting like we're the end all be all? Five solar systems out of a hundred billion trillion of 'em? The guys who left those rocks for the snouts had tech that make us look like musket-shooters, and look where they are? Probably gobbled up by that howling dark, like a drop in the biggest bucket.

I think the war ultimately lead to a good thing, yeah. It made us realize just how small we were, and now we can finally focus on the bigger stuff.

 _He falls silent._

You know Chris and I used to trade dirty jokes while on the _Flishithy_? The worst fucking jokes in the galaxy. We didn't even get half of them, since there's no way you're gonna pick up the cultural background while you're being herded around as POWs. But that didn't stop us from keeping on telling each other those jokes, because the few ones that made us laugh were worth all of the bad ones.

If that can happen, between the two of us, an American med student from Madison and a soldier from a planet twelve light years away...

 _He looks my way._

It gives me hope for the future.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _ **You have been reading:**_

 _ **Worldfall, Chapter Twenty-One: Closing Questions**_


	22. Conclusion

**Interviewer's Notes**

The War for Earth was the single greatest struggle in history. Not the history of any one group, but the history of everyone, in every species, on every world. No other conflict has impacted all five known sapient species in such broad and wide-reaching ways, both drastic and seemingly inconsequential. It has seen the end of empires, the salvation of an entire species, and a death toll unparalleled in scope.

In those terrifying and elating seventy-eight days, everything was changed, and for every **one**. From a Mongolian shepherd to a doctor to the leader of an invasion force, no one has been left unaffected. The aftershocks of this event reverberates across the light years and impacts the lives of those living around distant stars. From politics, to art, to even the very geography of this world, the War has left a lasting impact, and will continue to leave its mark for as long it is remembered.

Remembrance. That is the drive behind this book, which I wrote over the course of six months, four dozen interviews, and hundreds of hours of audio files. There are more numerous and more accurate sources available to those who seek only raw data about the war and its aftereffects. But, numbers and charts can only go so far in capturing what happened in that war, for it lacks the center of it all- people. This story is ultimately a story of people, for it was people who began the war, people who fought in it, and people who died in it. How can we understand an event such as this, if we do not understand the people involved in it?

As the Colonization Fleet hurtles towards Earth, and old wounds reopen, it is my hope that this collection can bring about a clearer understanding of that momentous occasion. Not through numbers, but through the thoughts, the fears, and the hopes of so many different people, who were linked together by a single event.

If we understand them, and that which links them, then perhaps we can embrace the future as we remember the past- together.

\- October 4th, 2041

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 **Final Report  
Observer - Designation ****_They Are Worth Remembering_** **  
Verification Code** ** _When the Great fight, it is the Small who suffer_**

This document serves as a final and personal report on my findings during the fifteen local years I have been deployed on this world. In addition to the passive information gathering via physical documents and the planet's digital information network, of which you will find three hundred exabytes worth of data, I have also engaged in active investigation under the guise of a human journalist.

It is the opinion of this observer that the Human-Race-Fithp War, colloquially known as the War for Earth or World War Three, is the single greatest anthropological event we have ever recorded. Entire theories and schools of thought regarding the development, interaction, and longevity of civilization will be overturned in the face of what has been uncovered here.

The very concept of a war of conquest being waged over interstellar distances was, in the opinions of observers such as myself, considered near-impossible. The combination of resources, biology, technology, and cultural impetus to make a sapient species desire to militarily conquer and colonize worlds in other star systems is unlikely- it was naturally a great shock to us when we learned of the Race's growing interstellar empire, which included the nascent species known as Rabotevs and Hallessi.

Therefore, it is an even greater shock to learn that yet another species shared similar ambitions to the Race- our own Descendants. The placement of the Messages, and their impact, remains a source of controversy among us, and this revelation will only serve to make it even more severe. There is no excuse for the gross oversight required to allow the expulsion of the Chpatisk Fithp and the demise of those on the Homeworld to go almost entirely unobserved, especially in light of the role, however indirect, we have played.

These two cultures and their developments alone would be of considerable interest and a source of debate, but it is the third culture involved that makes this into such a world-shattering event. The very fact that, not only do these two interstellar cultures bent on conquest of some sort or another exist, and exist in a similar frame of time, but that they invaded a world inhabited by a people who had not even left the orbit of their unusually large moon, _and_ that this planetary culture proved capable of defeating both attacks, is an event so unlikely that it should not exist.

Let alone the fact that these events happened on our former doorstep.

Nevertheless, it is my duty to understand the causes and effects of an event such as this. Firstly, we must note the unusual distances between these three cultures. It must be noted that humanity, the fithp, and the Race and its two client species all inhabit a bubble of space only fifteen light years across. In fact, our old suns are those closest to Sol, where the war was waged. While similarly close sapient cultures _have_ occurred before, as well as cultures in the same solar system and even the same planet, the tight grouping of these five species is still noteworthy.

Secondly, we must note the species themselves, and the worlds they inhabit. The planets of the Race are all arid worlds, orbiting low-metallicity stars. Life on these three worlds are dominated by caution, where even the smallest mistaken expenditure of resources and energy can prove fatal. This in turn created a culture of deliberation, where progress is glacial by any carbon-based lifeform's standard, but societal stability and longevity is unsurpassed.

While we may never know the courses the Rabotevs and Hallessi would have taken before their colonization, it would not be an uneducated guess to assume that their industrial civilizations would have borne a degree of similarity to the Race- slow to advance, but with the foresight to preserve their resources and stability to the best of their abilities.

In stark contrast, Earth, the home of Humanity, bears a striking similarity to our own world. It orbits a younger, higher-metallicity star, and is incredibly rich in resources valuable to developing carbon-based sophonts. Oceans of great depth dominate the surface, while the soil proves incredibly fertile. Even in comparison to other such verdant worlds, it is in an ideal location, with a massive moon to stabilize its orbit, and the existence of multiple gas-giants that serve as a sort of vacuum for impactors.

This garden of a world resulted in a people suited for such an environment- experimental, restless, and volatile, but also with the capacity for great change because of those selfsame attributes. It seems that the parallels run even deeper than initially suspected.

These three societies all bear the flaws endemic to their types. The Race's rigid way of thinking and slow advancement, while beneficial in assuring long-term stability even across interstellar distances, would have left it woefully out of its depth against more adaptive and mercurial societies. Proof of that can be seen with this war, where it failed to adapt in time to defeat a species largely limited to its own atmosphere, despite being an interstellar polity. It is quite fortunate for the Race that they encountered this issue under more forgiving circumstances- a conflict with some of the other species we have observed would have led to far more disastrous outcomes.

Likewise, humanity's volatility and constant state of social upheaval had brought their world to the brink of ecological ruin, with a stark divisions between social classes, planetary cultures, and factors pertaining to their biology. It is all to easy to consider that, if this war had not occurred, humanity may have very well met the same fate as our own civilization, but even more rapidly, to the point where there would not even be survivors left on other worlds who could rebuild.

As for the fithp, there is nothing I can say about them that has not been said before.

In a stroke of what one may call extreme improbability, or perhaps fate, the conflict between these three cultures have possibly offered solutions to these issues, via cultural mingling and exchange of technologies. In the face of existential interstellar threats, humanity has resolved many of its internal divisions, and the use of non-native technology such as fusion power as allowed them to continue their growth in a way that does not threaten their biosphere. In turn, the Race on Earth have demonstrated a profound shift in perspective, one that may spread to their worlds and allow them to overcome their phobia of change. Likewise, the outcome of the conflict has allowed the fithp an opportunity to mature like other species, and to finally look past the Messages as the sole authority of their future.

And yet, issues remain. The lack of a one-world superstate on Earth leaves open the possibility of conflict, but with weapons that can easily destroy their world. Their access to the Messages may inhibit their natural development, in ways we cannot predict as of yet. And should they make peace among themselves and form a superstate, there remains the issue of peace with the Race. This is a scenario we have only witnessed once before- a dark-forest cold war. I remain optimistic that this cold war will also be resolved peacefully.

Of course, this is only hard data and well-learned conjecture- neither one can fully embody what has happened here.

It is for that reason I have created this collection of interviews, which has also been released to the public on Earth as an epistolary account of the War. With all field notes were removed, of course. It is all too easy for us to become detached from these events- from parsecs and countless revolutions away, these events are distilled into academic reports and highly technical notes, describing cultures far less advanced than our own.

And yet, these events are, in the words of one particular individual I interviewed, ultimately stories about _people_. People who, while possessing technology far beneath us, are people much like us. In losing that, we may lose vision of ourselves. It is the hope of this observer that these firsthand accounts, gathered from individuals belonging to all five species and an eclectic gathering of social roles and cultures, will help us remember the _personal_ side of these events.

I have no doubt that they will, in time, uncover the last secrets from the Messages, and perhaps even learn how to surpass the speed of light itself. When that time comes, and our civilizations meet, I hope we will remember these people and their stories, so we can forge a truer understanding our both them and ourselves, and move towards a brighter future as one.

In the meantime, I request that I be allowed to remain on this world, and continue my studies of these intertwined peoples for another thirty local revolutions.

* * *

-/-\\-

* * *

 _ **You have been reading:**_

 ** _Worldfall, by Thuktun Flishithy_**


End file.
